title: Increased alpha 7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor protein levels in Alzheimer's disease patients.
abstract: We compared the intact alpha7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (alpha7nAChR) protein levels in the peripheral blood leukocytes in 15 Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients and 13 normal elderly control subjects. Demographic data and Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores were obtained. Western blot analysis for alpha7nAChR protein levels in peripheral blood leukocytes was performed. There were no significant differences in sex and age between the AD and control groups. The mean MMSE score of the AD subjects was significantly lower than that of the normal control subjects (15.4 +/- 5.5 vs. 28.5 +/- 1.9 respectively; p < 0.001). The median value of normalized alpha7nAChR protein levels (optical density, arbitrary unit) of the AD group was significantly higher than that of the normal control group (0.6923 vs. 0.4803 respectively; p = 0.045, Mann-Whitney U test). The normalized alpha7nAChR protein levels showed a significant inverse correlation with the MMSE scores (Spearman rho = -0.45; p = 0.016; n = 28). Receiver Operating Characteristic curve analyses showed that the area under curve was 0.72 (95% CI 0.52- 0.87). If the cut-off of the alpha7nAChR protein level was >0.312, the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value would be 80, 39, 60 and 63%, respectively. These findings showed that the alpha7nAChR protein levels would be a potentially useful diagnostic marker for AD.
authors.affiliation: Division of Geriatric Medicine, Department of Medicine, Queen Mary Hospital, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China. lwchu@hkucc.hku.hk
authors.forename: L W
authors.initials: LW
authors.lastname: Chu
authors.forename: E S K
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: K K Y
authors.initials: KK
authors.lastname: Lam
authors.forename: M F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Chan
authors.forename: D H S
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis*; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D015153:Blotting, Western; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007962:Leukocytes / Q000378:metabolism; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008404:Massachusetts; D008609:Mental Status Schedule / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011594:Psychometrics; D012372:ROC Curve; D011978:Receptors, Nicotinic / Q000097:blood*; D012016:Reference Values; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D064569:alpha7 Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; C579167:Chrna7 protein, human; D011978:Receptors, Nicotinic; D064569:alpha7 Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor