title: The tau protein of oral epithelium increases in Alzheimer's disease.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Alzheimer's disease (AD) is an important problem that should be solved in the 21st century. Prior to treatment, a simple and easy diagnostic method using biological markers should be available. As a method to attain this goal, we detected and determined tau protein in oral mucosal epithelium.
  
  
  METHODS
  Oral epithelium was exfoliated from 34 patients with AD or 29 patients with vascular dementia, and 33 young and 34 age-matched controls. Western blot was performed for determining the molecular weight of oral tau protein. The tau protein level was determined with an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kit for cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). CSF tau was also measured and compared with oral tau.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Western blot analysis using an anti-non-phosphorylated tau-protein antibody showed two bands, one at 65 Kd and the other at 110 Kd. The tau-protein level in oral epithelia showed a significant positive correlation with those in the CSF (p <.05). The patients with AD had significantly higher levels of tau protein than the patients with vascular dementia and the controls (p <.01). AD patients with a younger age at onset of the study showed a higher level of the tau protein than the patients with later age at onset (p <.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Like other nonneural tissues, oral epithelium contains small tau and big tau. The tau protein in oral epithelium reflects the pathological changes, as does the CSF tau. Individuals who develop AD may have had high levels of the tau protein in oral mucosal epithelium since early childhood. The tau-protein level in oral epithelia could be helpful in diagnosing AD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Geriatric Medicine, Kanazawa Medical University, Ishikawa, Japan. hideyuki@kanazawa-med.ac.jp
authors.forename: Hideyuki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hattori
authors.forename: Masayuki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Matsumoto
authors.forename: Kunimitu
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Iwai
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tsuchiya
authors.forename: Eiji
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Miyauchi
authors.forename: Mikihiro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Takasaki
authors.forename: Kouzin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kamino
authors.forename: Junichi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Munehira
authors.forename: Yasuhiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kimura
authors.forename: Kenichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kawanishi
authors.forename: Tomoko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hoshino
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Murai
authors.forename: Hajime
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ogata
authors.forename: Hidemichi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Maruyama
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yoshida
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000378:metabolism*; D015153:Blotting, Western; D015140:Dementia, Vascular / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008970:Molecular Weight; D009061:Mouth Mucosa / Q000378:metabolism*; D009994:Osmolar Concentration; D020033:Protein Isoforms / Q000378:metabolism; D012016:Reference Values; D016875:tau Proteins / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D020033:Protein Isoforms; D016875:tau Proteins