title: Autoantibodies to amyloid-beta and Alzheimer's disease.
abstract: Immunization against amyloid-beta has been suggested as a possible preventive or therapeutic treatment for Alzheimer's disease. We hypothesized that some individuals may have autoantibodies to amyloid-beta and that this may be protective. We analyzed the plasma of 365 individuals, drawn from a larger longitudinal epidemiological study, for the presence of antibodies to amyloid-beta. There were detectable but very low levels of anti-amyloid-beta antibodies in just over 50% of all samples and modest levels in under 5% of all samples. However, neither the presence nor the level of anti-amyloid-beta antibodies correlated with the likelihood of developing dementia or with plasma levels of amyloid-beta peptide. These data suggest that low levels of anti-amyloid-beta autoantibodies are frequent in the elderly population but do not confer protection against developing dementia.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Taub Institute for Research in Alzheimer's Disease and the Aging Brain, Gertrude H. Sergievsky Center, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, NY, USA. B_HYMAN@helix.mgh.harvard.edu
authors.forename: B T
authors.initials: BT
authors.lastname: Hyman
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Buldyrev
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Whelan
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.forename: M X
authors.initials: MX
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mayeux
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000097:blood / Q000209:etiology / Q000276:immunology*; D016229:Amyloid beta-Peptides / Q000276:immunology*; D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004198:Disease Susceptibility / Q000276:immunology; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005006:Ethnicity; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D044469:Racial Groups
chemical_list: D016229:Amyloid beta-Peptides; D001323:Autoantibodies