title: Interactions between amyloid-β and tau in cerebrospinal fluid of people with mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Despite the physiological sequestration of amyloid-β (Aβ) peptides by various carriers, interactions between peptides and protein tau appear to be pathological and involved in the development of Alzheimer's disease (AD). A recent study reported increased Aβ-tau interactions in the neurons of AD patients.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  We investigated the possibility that levels of Aβ-tau complexes in cerebrospinal fluid could be a prospective biomarker of AD, with greater sensitivity and specificity than Aβ1-42, tau, or phospho-tau individually.
  
  
  METHODS
  By means of ELISA, we estimated levels of the complexes in 161 people (non-demented controls, people with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), probable AD or other types of dementia).
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found significant reductions in levels in people with MCI due to AD (down to 84.5%) or with AD (down to 80.5%) but not in other types of dementia. The sensitivity of the new biomarker to AD was 68.6%, the specificity 73.3% (compared to controls) or 59.1-66.1% (compared to other types of dementia). No significant correlations were observed between the complexes and the remaining biomarkers or between those and Mini-Mental State Examination score.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We suppose that attenuated levels of complexes in cerebrospinal fluid reflect the accumulation of Aβ bound to tau in AD neurons and that changes start many years before symptom onset, analogously to those in Aβ1-42, tau, or phospho-tau. Unfortunately, these complexes are not a significantly better biomarker of AD than current biomarkers.
authors.affiliation: Prague Psychiatric Center, Prague, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Zdena
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Kristofikova
authors.affiliation: Prague Psychiatric Center, Prague, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ricny
authors.affiliation: Prague Psychiatric Center, Prague, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Michaela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kolarova
authors.affiliation: Memory Disorders Clinic, Department of Neurology, 2nd Faculty of Medicine, Charles University in Prague and Motol University Hospital, Prague, Czech Republic International Clinical Research Center, St. Anne's University Hospital Brno, Brno, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vyhnalek
authors.affiliation: Memory Disorders Clinic, Department of Neurology, 2nd Faculty of Medicine, Charles University in Prague and Motol University Hospital, Prague, Czech Republic International Clinical Research Center, St. Anne's University Hospital Brno, Brno, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Jakub
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hort
authors.affiliation: Memory Disorders Clinic, Department of Neurology, 2nd Faculty of Medicine, Charles University in Prague and Motol University Hospital, Prague, Czech Republic International Clinical Research Center, St. Anne's University Hospital Brno, Brno, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Laczo
authors.affiliation: Prague Psychiatric Center, Prague, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Jana
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sirova
authors.affiliation: Prague Psychiatric Center, Prague, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ripova
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid*; D016229:Amyloid beta-Peptides / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid*; D060825:Cognitive Dysfunction / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008609:Mental Status Schedule; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010446:Peptide Fragments / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D016875:tau Proteins / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid*
chemical_list: D016229:Amyloid beta-Peptides; D010446:Peptide Fragments; C075222:amyloid beta-protein (1-42); D016875:tau Proteins
keywords: Amyloid-β peptides; biomarker; cerebrospinal fluid; interactions; tau protein