title: What are the relations between Lewy body disease and AD?
abstract: Several hospital based autopsy series indicate dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) to be the second most common pathological subtype of degenerative dementia in elderly subjects. The majority of DLB cases have high densities of beta amyloid senile plaques, whereas neocortical neurofibrillary tangle density is only slightly increased above age-matched normal control values and over tenfold lower than the average in Alzheimer's disease. The interpretation of this Alzheimer type pathology is problematic, reflecting in part changing views about the neuropathological diagnosis of AD itself. AD is characterised by hyperphosphorylation of the microtubular associated protein tau, and DLB by neurofilament abnormalities including phosphorylation, ubiquitination, proteolysis, and cross-linking of constituent proteins. The two diseases appear therefore to be distinct at an ultrastructural and molecular level, a conclusion which is consistent with the fact that the clinical syndromes associated with DLB and AD are sufficiently differentiated to allow for accurate antemortem diagnosis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Old Age Psychiatry, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: I G
authors.initials: IG
authors.lastname: McKeith
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ince
authors.forename: E B
authors.initials: EB
authors.lastname: Jaros
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fairbairn
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ballard
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Grace
authors.forename: C M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Morris
authors.forename: R H
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Perry
mesh_terms: D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000473:pathology*; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology*; D003599:Cytoskeleton / Q000473:pathology; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D006801:Humans; D016631:Lewy Bodies / Q000473:pathology; D008870:Microtubules / Q000473:pathology; D016501:Neurites / Q000473:pathology; D016874:Neurofibrillary Tangles / Q000473:pathology; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000473:pathology*; D010766:Phosphorylation; D058225:Plaque, Amyloid / Q000473:pathology; D016875:tau Proteins / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D016875:tau Proteins