Plasma apolipoprotein E levels in longitudinally followed patients with mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease

• Published in: Alzheimer's research & therapy 2022-08, Vol.14 (1), p.115-115, Article 115
• Main Authors: Giannisis, Andreas, Al-Grety, Asma, Carlsson, Henrik, Patra, Kalicharan, Twohig, Daniel, Sando, Sigrid Botne, Lauridsen, Camilla, Berge, Guro, Grøntvedt, Gøril Rolfseng, Bråthen, Geir, White, Linda R, Kultima, Kim, Nielsen, Henrietta M
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: alpha-Synuclein; Alzheimer Disease - cerebrospinal fluid; Alzheimer Disease - diagnosis; Alzheimer's disease; Amyloid beta-Peptides - cerebrospinal fluid; APOE epsilon 4; APOE ε4; Apolipoprotein E; Apolipoprotein E3 - cerebrospinal fluid; Apolipoprotein E3 - genetics; Apolipoprotein E4 - cerebrospinal fluid; Apolipoprotein E4 - genetics; Apolipoproteins; Apolipoproteins E - cerebrospinal fluid; Apolipoproteins E - genetics; Biomarkers; Biomarkers - cerebrospinal fluid; Blood plasma; Chromatography; Cognitive ability; Cognitive Dysfunction - cerebrospinal fluid; Cognitive Dysfunction - diagnosis; Composition; Dementia; Diagnosis; Enzymes; Female; Health aspects; Humans; Kallikreins; Mass spectrometry; Measurement; Peptide Fragments - cerebrospinal fluid; Peptides; Plasma; Risk factors; Scientific imaging; Surfactants; tau Proteins - cerebrospinal fluid
• ISSN: 1758-9193; 1758-9193
• DOI: 10.1186/s13195-022-01058-9

Low levels of plasma apolipoprotein E (apoE) and presence of the APOE ε4 allele are associated with an increased risk of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Although the increased risk of AD in APOE ε4-carriers is well-established, the protein levels have received limited attention. We here report the total plasma apoE and apoE isoform levels at baseline from a longitudinally (24 months) followed cohort including controls (n = 39), patients with stable amnestic mild cognitive impairment during 24 months follow up (MCI-MCI, n = 30), patients with amnestic MCI (aMCI) that during follow-up were clinically diagnosed with AD with dementia (ADD) (MCI-ADD, n = 28), and patients with AD with dementia (ADD) at baseline (ADD, n = 28). We furthermore assessed associations between plasma apoE levels with cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) AD biomarkers and α-synuclein, as well as both CSF and plasma neurofilament light chain (NfL), YKL-40 and kallikrein 6. Irrespective of clinical diagnosis, the highest versus the lowest apoE levels were found in APOE ε2/ε3 versus APOE ε4/ε4 subjects, with the most prominent differences exhibited in females. Total plasma apoE levels were 32% and 21% higher in the controls versus MCI-ADD and ADD patients, respectively. Interestingly, MCI-ADD patients exhibited a 30% reduction in plasma apoE compared to MCI-MCI patients. This decrease appeared to be associated with brain amyloid-β (Aβ ) pathology regardless of disease status as assessed using the Amyloid, Tau, and Neurodegeneration (A/T/N) classification. In addition to the association between low plasma apoE and low levels of CSF Aβ , lower apoE levels were also related to higher levels of CSF total tau (t-tau) and tau phosphorylated at Threonine 181 residue (p-tau) and NfL as well as a worse performance on the mini-mental-state-examination. In MCI-ADD patients, low levels of plasma apoE were associated with higher levels of CSF α-synuclein and kallikrein 6. No significant correlations between plasma apoE and the astrocytic inflammatory marker YKL40 were observed. Our results demonstrate important associations between low plasma apoE levels, Aβ pathology, and progression from aMCI to a clinical ADD diagnosis.