title: Evidence for Elevated Cerebrospinal Fluid ERK1/2 Levels in Alzheimer Dementia.
abstract: Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples from 33 patients with Alzheimer dementia (AD), 21 patients with mild cognitive impairment who converted to AD during followup (MCI-AD), 25 patients with stable mild cognitive impairment (MCI-stable), and 16 nondemented subjects (ND) were analyzed with a chemiluminescence immunoassay to assess the levels of the mitogen-activated protein kinase ERK1/2 (extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2). The results were evaluated in relation to total Tau (tTau), phosphorylated Tau (pTau), and beta-amyloid 42 peptide (Aβ42). CSF-ERK1/2 was significantly increased in the AD group as compared to stable MCI patients and the ND group. Western blot analysis of a pooled cerebrospinal fluid sample revealed that both isoforms, ERK1 and ERK2, and low amounts of doubly phosphorylated ERK2 were detectable. As a predictive diagnostic AD biomarker, CSF-ERK1/2 was inferior to tTau, pTau, and Aβ42.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Laboratory for Molecular Neurobiology, LVR-Klinikum Essen, University of Duisburg-Essen, Virchowstraße 174, 45147 Essen, Germany.
authors.forename: Philipp
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Spitzer
authors.forename: Heinke
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Schieb
authors.forename: Heike
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kamrowski-Kruck
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Otto
authors.forename: Davide
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Chiasserini
authors.forename: Lucilla
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Parnetti
authors.forename: Sanna-Kaisa
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Herukka
authors.forename: Johannes
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Schuchhardt
authors.forename: Jens
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wiltfang
authors.forename: Hans-Wolfgang
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Klafki