Decreased beta-amyloid1-42 in cerebrospinal fluid of patients with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.
OBJECTIVE
Decreased levels of Abeta1-42 are found in CSF of patients with AD. Because early stages of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) and AD share several clinical features, we investigated Abeta1-42 levels in CSF of these groups, inferring that this might give additional help in differentiating patients with CJD from AD patients.


METHODS
We investigated 27 patients with CJD, 14 patients with AD, 19 patients with other dementias, and 20 nondemented controls (NDC) for Abeta1-42 in CSF. Twenty-four of the 27 CJD patients were neuropathologically verified. All the neuropathologically verified patients presented with a type 1 prion protein pattern. CJD patients were all homozygous for methionine at codon 129. Except in five CJD patients, no beta-amyloid plaques were seen. Additionally, APOE status was determined in patients with CJD.


RESULTS
Levels of Abeta1-42 in CSF were decreased in patients with AD as well as in CJD. Levels of Abeta1-42 in CSF of patients with CJD and AD were significantly different from the other dementia and NDC groups. There was no substantial difference between the CJD and AD groups (p = 0.66). Decreased levels of Abeta1-42 did not correlate with the APOE epsilon4 load in patients with CJD.


CONCLUSIONS
Low levels of Abeta1-42 in CSF do not exclude a diagnosis of CJD. Decreased levels of Abeta1-42 in CSF can occur without beta-amyloid plaque formation in the brain. However, the underlying mechanism of this phenomenon must be elucidated.
Otto
M
M
Neurologische Klinik und Poliklinik, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Germany. motto@gwdg.de
Esselmann
H
H
Schulz-Shaeffer
W
W
Neumann
M
M
Schröter
A
A
Ratzka
P
P
Cepek
L
L
Zerr
I
I
Steinacker
P
P
Windl
O
O
Kornhuber
J
J
Kretzschmar
H A
HA
Poser
S
S
Wiltfang
J
J
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D016229:Amyloid beta-Peptides / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid*; D007562:Creutzfeldt-Jakob Syndrome / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015151:Immunoblotting; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged
D016229:Amyloid beta-Peptides