HECTD2, a candidate susceptibility gene for Alzheimer's disease on 10q

Background: Late onset Alzheimer's disease (LOAD) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterised by the deposition of amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles in the brain and is the major cause of dementia. Multiple genetic loci, including 10q, have been implicated in LOAD but to date, with the exception of APOE, the underlying genes have not been identified. HECTD2 maps to 10q and has been implicated in susceptibility to human prion diseases which are also neurodegenerative conditions associated with accumulation of misfolded host proteins. In this study we test whether the HECTD2 susceptibility allele seen in prion disease is also implicated in LOAD.Methods: DNA from 320 individuals with Alzheimer's disease and 601 controls were genotyped for a HECTD2 intronic tagging SNP, rs12249854 (A/T). Groups were further analysed following stratification by APOE genotype.Results: The rs12249854 minor allele (A) frequency was higher (5.8%) in the Alzheimer's disease group as compared to the controls (3.9%), however, this was not statistically significant (P = 0.0668). No significant difference was seen in minor allele frequency in the presence or absence of the APOE epsilon 4 allele.Conclusion: The common haplotypes of HECTD2, tagged by rs12249854, are not associated with susceptibility to LOAD

Body Fluid Cytokine Levels in Mild Cognitive Impairment and Alzheimer’s Disease: a Comparative Overview

This article gives a comprehensive overview of cytokine and other inflammation associated protein levels in plasma, serum and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI). We reviewed 118 research articles published between 1989 and 2013 to compare the reported levels of 66 cytokines and other proteins related to regulation and signaling in inflammation in the blood or CSF obtained from MCI and AD patients. Several cytokines are evidently regulated in (neuro-) inflammatory processes associated with neurodegenerative disorders. Others do not display changes in the blood or CSF during disease progression. However, many reports on cytokine levels in MCI or AD are controversial or inconclusive, particularly those which provide data on frequently investigated cytokines like tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) or interleukin-6 (IL-6). The levels of several cytokines are possible indicators of neuroinflammation in AD. Some of them might increase steadily during disease progression or temporarily at the time of MCI to AD conversion. Furthermore, elevated body fluid cytokine levels may correlate with an increased risk of conversion from MCI to AD. Yet, research results are conflicting. To overcome interindividual variances and to obtain a more definite description of cytokine regulation and function in neurodegeneration, a high degree of methodical standardization and patients collective characterization, together with longitudinal sampling over years is essential

Mutations in PDX1, the human lipoyl-containing component X of the pyruvate dehydrogenase-complex gene on chromosome 11p1, in congenital lactic acidosis.

We have identified and sequenced a cDNA that encodes an apparent human orthologue of a yeast protein-X component (ScPDX1) of pyruvate dehydrogenase multienzyme complexes. The new human cDNA that has been referred to as "HsPDX1" cDNA was cloned by use of the "database cloning" strategy and had a 1,506-bp open reading frame. The amino acid sequence of the protein encoded by the cDNA was 20% identical with that encoded by the yeast PDX1 gene and 40% identical with that encoded by the lipoate acetyltransferase component of the pyruvate dehydrogenase and included a lipoyl-bearing domain that is conserved in some dehydrogenase enzyme complexes. Northern blot analysis demonstrated that the major HsPDX1 mRNA was 2.5 kb in length and was expressed mainly in human skeletal and cardiac muscles but was also present, at low levels, in other tissues. FISH analysis performed with a P1-derived artificial chromosome (PAC)-containing HsPDX1 gene sublocalized the gene to 11p1.3. Molecular investigation of PDX1 deficiency in four patients with neonatal lactic acidemias revealed mutations 78del85 and 965del59 in a homozygous state, and one other patient had no PDX1 mRNA expression

The Influence of Baseline Alzheimer's Disease Severity on Cognitive Decline and CSF Biomarkers in the NILVAD Trial

Contains fulltext : 220566.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)We examined the effects of a dihydropyridine calcium channel blocker nilvadipine with anti-inflammatory properties on cognition and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers by baseline Alzheimer's disease (AD) severity. Exploratory analyses were performed on the dataset (n = 497) of a phase III randomized placebo-controlled trial to examine the response to nilvadipine in AD subjects stratified by baseline AD severity into very mild (MMSE >/= 25), mild (MMSE 20-24) and moderate AD (MMSE < 20). The outcome measures included total and subscale scores of the Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale Cognitive 12 (ADAS-Cog 12), the Clinical Dementia Rating Scale sum of boxes (CDR-sb) and the AD composite score (ADCOMS). Cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers Abeta38, Abeta40, Abeta42, neurofilament light chain (NFL), neurogranin, YKL-40, total tau and P181 tau (ptau) were measured in a subset of samples (n = 55). Regression analyses were adjusted for confounders to specifically examine the influence of nilvadipine and baseline AD severity on cognitive outcomes over 78-weeks. Compared to their respective placebo-controls, nilvadipine-treated, very mild AD subjects showed less decline, whereas moderate AD subjects showed a greater cognitive decline on the ADAS-Cog 12 test and the ADCOMS. A lower decline was observed after nilvadipine treatment for a composite memory trait in very mild AD subjects and a composite language trait in mild AD subjects. Cerebrospinal fluid Abeta42/Abeta40 ratios were increased in mild AD and decreased in moderate AD patients treated with nilvadipine, compared to their respective controls. Among moderate AD subjects, levels of ptau, total tau, neurogranin and YKL-40 increased in subjects treated with nilvadipine compared to placebo. These studies suggest that baseline AD severity influenced the treatment outcome in the NILVAD trial and that future clinical trials of nilvadipine should be restricted to mild and very mild AD patients. Trial Registration: NCT02017340 Registered 20 December 2013, https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02017340 EUDRACT Reference Number 2012-002764-27 Registered 04 February 2013, https://www.clinicaltrialsregister.eu/ctr-search/search?query=2012-002764-27