title: Decreased plasma and cerebrospinal fluid levels of stem cell factor in patients with early Alzheimer's disease.
abstract: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is characterized by massive neuronal cell loss in the brain. Stem cell factor (SCF) is a hematopoietic growth factor (HGF) that promotes neuroprotective effects and supports neurogenesis in the brain. In the present study, we found significantly lower SCF plasma levels in 30 early AD patients (908.5 +/- 181.7 pg/ml) in comparison with 30 age-matched healthy controls (1058.3 +/- 221.5 pg/ml; p = 0.006). SCF plasma levels in AD patients showed a significant inverse correlation with dementia severity as measured by ADAS-Cog (r = -0.289; p = 0.037). AD patients showed significantly lower SCF levels in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) (131.60 +/- 43.03 pg/ml) in comparison with 15 age- and gender-matched patients with other non-inflammatory neurological disease (NIND) (166.03 +/- 42.5 pg/ml; p = 0.017). In addition, we found significant positive correlations between SCF and CXCL12 (also known as SDF-1) plasma levels in healthy controls (r = 0.341; p = 0.008) and between SCF and CXCL12 CSF levels in AD patients (r = 0.487; p < 0.001). In conclusion, decreased SCF plasma and CSF levels in early AD patients may contribute to a deficient hematopoietic brain support with putative pathogenic and clinical relevance. Further studies are needed to examine whether a manipulation of HGFs such as SCF could be a promising new therapeutic strategy for AD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Tuebingen, Tuebingen, Germany. christoph.laske@med.uni-tuebingen.de
authors.forename: Christoph
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Laske
authors.forename: Konstantinos
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Stellos
authors.forename: Elke
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Stransky
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Seizer
authors.forename: Ozlem
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Akcay
authors.forename: Gerhard W
authors.initials: GW
authors.lastname: Eschweiler
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Leyhe
authors.forename: Meinrad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gawaz
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000378:metabolism; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000097:blood* / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid*; D016229:Amyloid beta-Peptides / Q000097:blood / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid; D054377:Chemokine CXCL12 / Q000097:blood / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006410:Hematopoiesis / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010446:Peptide Fragments / Q000097:blood / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid; D019089:Stem Cell Factor / Q000097:blood* / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid*; D016875:tau Proteins / Q000097:blood / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid
chemical_list: D016229:Amyloid beta-Peptides; D054377:Chemokine CXCL12; D010446:Peptide Fragments; D019089:Stem Cell Factor; C075222:amyloid beta-protein (1-42); D016875:tau Proteins