title: Expression of intracellular calcium-binding proteins in cultured skin fibroblasts from Alzheimer and normal aged donors.
abstract: Disturbed calcium homeostasis may play a role in the etiology in Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases. A protective role against cellular degeneration has been postulated for Ca(2+)-binding proteins in certain neuron populations. Recent data suggest that intracellular free calcium regulation is also altered in several non-neuronal cells, including skin fibroblasts, from patients with Alzheimer's disease. In this study we analyzed the expression of several EF-hand Ca(2+)-binding proteins in cultured skin fibroblasts from Alzheimer patients and age-matched normal donors. We detected a strong expression of some members of the S100 Ca(2+)-binding protein family and of calcineurin A. However, no significant differences were found between both types of donors by Northern blot and Western blot analysis. In addition, similar signals were detected on 45Ca(2+)-blots of fibroblasts extracts of Alzheimer patients and control donors. The present findings indicate that the altered level of some intracellular calcium-binding proteins in certain brain areas of Alzheimer patients is not found in skin fibroblasts of these patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, University of Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: U G
authors.initials: UG
authors.lastname: Föhr
authors.forename: G E
authors.initials: GE
authors.lastname: Gibson
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Tofel-Grehl
authors.forename: B W
authors.initials: BW
authors.lastname: Schäfer
authors.forename: C W
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Heizmann
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000378:metabolism*; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001483:Base Sequence; D019703:Calcineurin; D002135:Calcium-Binding Proteins / Q000032:analysis* / Q000235:genetics; D002148:Calmodulin-Binding Proteins / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics; D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins; D002460:Cell Line; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D015870:Gene Expression; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010749:Phosphoprotein Phosphatases / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics; D000075383:S100 Calcium Binding Protein A6; D000071999:S100 Calcium-Binding Protein A4; D009418:S100 Proteins; D012867:Skin / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D002135:Calcium-Binding Proteins; D002148:Calmodulin-Binding Proteins; D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins; D000075383:S100 Calcium Binding Protein A6; D000071999:S100 Calcium-Binding Protein A4; D009418:S100 Proteins; C055351:S100A6 protein, human; C077591:S100A4 protein, human; D019703:Calcineurin; D010749:Phosphoprotein Phosphatases