title: Contribution of cerebrospinal fluid thymosin β4 levels to the clinical differentiation of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To asses thymosin β4 specificity as relevant to the diagnosis of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD).
  
  
  METHODS
  A matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry protein profiling analysis was applied to several neurological disorders that are known to lead to dementia. The relative peak area (percentage of area) of the thymosin β4 MS signal was taken into account.
  
  
  METHODS
  National Research Council, Cosenza, Italy.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cerebrospinal fluid analysis was performed on 21 patients with neuropathologically confirmed CJD; 15 patients with frontotemporal dementia; 18 patients with probable Alzheimer disease; and 9 patients with a rapid-onset progressive dementia. A non-cognitively impaired control group consisted of 25 individuals without CJD or dementia.
  
  
  METHODS
  The thymosin β4 test results in CJD and other dementia.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The thymosin β4 cerebrospinal fluid levels appeared to be markedly increased in CJD samples compared with frontotemporal cases (P = 10(-7)) and patients with Alzheimer disease (P = 10(-7)). A lower significance was observed vs the group with rapid-onset progressive dementia (P = .0004). Thus, at a cutoff value of 1.2% of the thymosin β4 relative peak area, we estimated 100% sensitivity with 98.5% specificity.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings indicate that cerebrospinal fluid levels of thymosin β4 protein measured by matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry may effectively contribute to discriminate CJD from other forms of dementia.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Neurological Sciences, National Research Council, Piano Lago di Mangone, Cosenza, Italy.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Le Pera
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Urso
authors.forename: Teresa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sprovieri
authors.forename: Sabrina
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bossio
authors.forename: Umberto
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Aguglia
authors.forename: Ida
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Manna
authors.forename: Chiara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cupidi
authors.forename: Tiziana
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ferraro
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gambardella
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Qualtieri
authors.forename: Aldo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Quattrone
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid; D007562:Creutzfeldt-Jakob Syndrome / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid* / Q000175:diagnosis*; D018450:Disease Progression; D057180:Frontotemporal Dementia / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D012372:ROC Curve; D019032:Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D013947:Thymosin / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid*; D000099201:Thymosin beta(4)
chemical_list: D013947:Thymosin; D000099201:Thymosin beta(4)