title: Diagnostic utility of VEGF and soluble CD40L levels in serum of Alzheimer's patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Non-invasive blood-based biomarkers are eagerly awaited for the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). The present study aimed to evaluate the individual and combined diagnostic value of soluble CD40 ligand (sCD40L) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) for AD.
  
  
  METHODS
  Fifty patients with AD and forty gender and age-matched control participants with standardized clinical assessments and neuroimaging measures were enrolled. VEGF and sCD40L were qualified in 90 subjects using immunomagnetic beads assay.
  
  
  RESULTS
  To evaluate the individual and combined diagnostic value of sCD40L and VEGF for AD, receiver operating characteristic curves were generated and logistic regression analysis was conducted. The AUCs (area under ROCs) of sCD40L and VEGF and their corresponding 95% confidence interval (CI) were 0.824 (95% CI: 0.737-0.910) and 0.731 (95% CI: 0.622-0.839), respectively. Combined ROC analysis based on these 2 biomarkers revealed an elevated AUC of 0.858 (95% CI: 0.775-0.941), which indicates an additive effect in the diagnostic value of these two biomarkers.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We identified the feasibility of a blood-based biomarker approach in AD diagnostics though the results warrant validation in large-scale studies. A combination of sCD40L and VEGF could be a useful diagnostic biomarker for future clinical trials with AD and may act as a suitable add-on biomarker to the panel of markers already existing for AD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory Medicine, Southwest Hospital, the Third Military Medical University, Chongqing 400038, PR China.
authors.forename: Shu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory Medicine, Southwest Hospital, the Third Military Medical University, Chongqing 400038, PR China.
authors.forename: Yue-Ping
authors.initials: YP
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology and Centre for Clinical Neuroscience, Daping Hospital and Institute of Field Surgery, the Third Military Medical University, Chongqing 400038, PR China.
authors.forename: Yu-Hui
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology and Centre for Clinical Neuroscience, Daping Hospital and Institute of Field Surgery, the Third Military Medical University, Chongqing 400038, PR China.
authors.forename: Shu-Sheng
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Jiao
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory Medicine, Southwest Hospital, the Third Military Medical University, Chongqing 400038, PR China.
authors.forename: Lu
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology and Centre for Clinical Neuroscience, Daping Hospital and Institute of Field Surgery, the Third Military Medical University, Chongqing 400038, PR China. Electronic address: wayaja@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Yan-Jiang
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory Medicine, Southwest Hospital, the Third Military Medical University, Chongqing 400038, PR China. Electronic address: weiling_fu@163.com.
authors.forename: Wei-Ling
authors.initials: WL
authors.lastname: Fu
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis*; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D023201:CD40 Ligand / Q000097:blood* / Q000737:chemistry*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012995:Solubility; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A; D023201:CD40 Ligand
keywords: Alzheimer's disease; Diagnosis; Potential biomarker; Serum; Soluble CD40 ligand; Vascular endothelial growth factor