title: Elevated levels of neural recognition molecule L1 in the cerebrospinal fluid of patients with Alzheimer disease and other dementia syndromes.
abstract: In this study we surveyed a total of 218 cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples from patients with different neurological diseases including Alzheimer disease, non-Alzheimer forms of dementia, other neurodegenerative diseases without dementia and normal controls to quantitate by capture ELISA the concentrations of the immunoglobulin superfamily adhesion molecules L1 and NCAM, and characterized by immunoblot analysis the molecular forms of L1 and NCAM. We found a significant increase of L1 and a strong tendency for increase of the soluble fragments of NCAM in the CSF of Alzheimer patients compared to the normal control group. The proteolytic fragments of L1, but not NCAM were also elevated in patients with vascular dementia and dementia of mixed type. Higher L1 concentrations were observed irrespective of age and gender. NCAM concentrations were independent of gender, but positively correlated with age and, surprisingly, also with incidence of multiple sclerosis. Thus, there was an influence of Alzheimer and non-Alzheimer dementias and neurodegeneration on L1, whereas age and neurodegeneration influenced NCAM concentrations. These observations point to an abnormal processing and/or shedding of L1 and NCAM in dementia-related neurodegeneration and age, respectively, reflecting changes in adhesion molecule-related cell interactions.
authors.affiliation: Zentrum für Molekulare Neurobiologie, Universität Hamburg, Martinistr. 52, D 20246 Hamburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Helen
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Strekalova
authors.forename: Carsten
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Buhmann
authors.forename: Ralf
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kleene
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Eggers
authors.forename: Jane
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Saffell
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hemperly
authors.forename: Cornelius
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Weiller
authors.forename: Tomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Müller-Thomsen
authors.forename: Melitta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schachner
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid*; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid; D003704:Dementia / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D039842:Neural Cell Adhesion Molecule L1 / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid*; D019006:Neural Cell Adhesion Molecules / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid*; D019636:Neurodegenerative Diseases / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000379:methods; D012307:Risk Factors; D017678:Sex Distribution; D013577:Syndrome
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D039842:Neural Cell Adhesion Molecule L1; D019006:Neural Cell Adhesion Molecules