title: Circulating interleukin-15 in dementia disorders.
abstract: The objective of this study was to assess the role of interleukin-15 (IL-15) as a potential marker of immune reactions in patients with Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia. The authors measured by immunoassay serum IL-15 levels in 20 patients with Alzheimer's disease and 15 patients with vascular dementia and compared them with serum IL-15 levels in 15 healthy subjects. The authors also studied the effect of treatment with acetylcholinesterase inhibitors (AChEI) on serum IL-15 levels. Patients with Alzheimer's disease were found to have significantly lower serum IL-15 levels compared with healthy subjects and patients with vascular dementia. Healthy subjects and patients with vascular dementia did not differ between each other. Age, sex, disease duration, and Mini-Mental State Examination score did not affect IL-15 levels in any of the groups. Treatment with AChEI had no influence on IL-15 concentrations. The findings suggest that IL-15 is not implicated in the pathogenetic mechanisms of Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia. An immune hyporesponsiveness at some point during disease development may be responsible for the lower levels of IL-15 and other cytokines in Alzheimer's disease patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Aeginition Hospital, Athens National University, School of Medicine, 72-74 Vas. Sophias Avenue, Athens 11528, Greece. mrentzos@med.uoa.gr
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rentzos
authors.forename: George P
authors.initials: GP
authors.lastname: Paraskevas
authors.forename: Elisabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kapaki
authors.forename: Chryssoula
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Nikolaou
authors.forename: Margarita
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zoga
authors.forename: Anthousa
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tsoutsou
authors.forename: Antonis
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rombos
authors.forename: Demetrios
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Vassilopoulos
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D002800:Cholinesterase Inhibitors / Q000627:therapeutic use; D003704:Dementia / Q000097:blood* / Q000145:classification / Q000188:drug therapy; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D019409:Interleukin-15 / Q000097:blood*; D008297:Male; D008609:Mental Status Schedule / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric