title: Serum calreticulin is a negative biomarker in patients with Alzheimer's disease.
abstract: Calreticulin is down-regulated in the cortical neurons of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and may be a potential biomarker for the diagnosis of AD. A total of 128 AD patients were randomly recruited from May 2012 to July 2013. The mRNA levels of calreticulin were measured from the serum of tested subjects using real-time quantitative reverse transcriptase-PCR (real-time qRT-PCR). Serum levels of calreticulin were determined by ELISA and Western Blot. Serum levels of calreticulin in AD patients were significantly lower than those from a healthy group (p < 0.01). The baseline characters indicated that sample size, gender, mean age, diabetes and BMI (body mass index) were not major sources of heterogeneity. The serum levels of mRNA and protein of calreticulin were lower in AD patients than those from a healthy group, and negatively associated with the progression of AD according to CDR scores (p < 0.01). Thus, there is a trend toward decreased serum levels of calreticulin in the patients with progression of AD. Serum levels of calreticulin can be a negative biomarker for the diagnosis of AD patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, the Fourth Affiliated Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang 110005, China. qiaolinsy@163.com.
authors.forename: Qiao
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Neural Department of Internal Medicine, the First Affiliated Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang 110001, China. caoyun2@163.com.
authors.forename: Yunpeng
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, the First Affiliated Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang 110001, China. gaojie3@163.com.
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gao
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000097:blood* / Q000235:genetics; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D015153:Blotting, Western; D037282:Calreticulin / Q000097:blood* / Q000235:genetics; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003710:Demography; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D037282:Calreticulin; D012333:RNA, Messenger