title: Altered serum glycomics in Alzheimer disease: a potential blood biomarker?
abstract: We investigated whether blood N-glycan changes can be used as a diagnostic biomarker for Alzheimer disease (AD). We used DNA sequencer-assisted, fluorophore-assisted carbohydrate electrophoresis (DSA-FACE) technology to assay N-glycans in sera from 79 autopsy-confirmed dementia patients and 149 healthy controls. One N-glycan (NA2F) was substantially decreased in AD patients but not in controls. Use of NA2F for discriminating AD between dementia patients and healthy controls showed a diagnostic accuracy of 85.7% +/- 2.8% with 92% specificity and 70% sensitivity. The decrease in the level of NA2F in AD patients compared to non-AD patients was more pronounced in females (p < 0.0001) than in males (p < 0.014). Use of NA2F to differentiate female AD from female non-AD patients reached a diagnostic accuracy of 90.7% +/- 4.8 %. Pearson correlation analysis showed that in female dementia patients, serum NA2F levels were significantly correlated with the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) beta-amyloid peptide of 42 amino acids (Abeta(1-42)) and tau phosphorylated at threonine 181 (P-tau(181P)) levels, whereas in male dementia patients serum NA2F levels were significantly correlated only with CSF total tau protein (T-tau) level. Thus, we suggest that the serum N-glycan marker might be suitable for longitudinal and follow-up studies.
authors.affiliation: Department for Molecular Biomedical Research, VIB, Gent-Zwijnaarde, Belgium. Chitty@dmbr.UGent.be
authors.forename: Cuiying Chitty
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Sebastiaan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Engelborghs
authors.forename: Sylviane
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dewaele
authors.forename: Nathalie
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Le Bastard
authors.forename: Jean-Jacques
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.forename: Valerie
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Vanhooren
authors.forename: Claude
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Libert
authors.forename: Peter Paul
authors.initials: PP
authors.lastname: De Deyn
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000097:blood / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid / Q000175:diagnosis*; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000032:analysis* / Q000097:blood / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid; D002241:Carbohydrates / Q000032:analysis* / Q000097:blood / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D004586:Electrophoresis / Q000379:methods; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D054794:Glycomics; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D002241:Carbohydrates