Pharmacopsychiatry 2003; 36 - 31
DOI: 10.1055/s-2003-825282

Decrease of amyloid β1–42 antibodies in serum of patients with Alzheimer's disease

S Brettschneider 1, N Morgenthaler 2, SJ Teipel 1, C Fischer-Schulz 2, K Bürger 1, HJ Möller 1, A Bergmann 2, H Hampel 1
  • 1Department of Psychiatry, Ludwig-Maximilian Universität, München
  • 2BRAHMS AG, Research Department, Biotechnological Center Henningsdorf Berlin

Amyloid β (Aβ) is the histopathological hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Antibodies against Aβ occur naturally and are used in promising therapeutical approaches. To assess the diagnostic value of serum Aβ-antibodies for AD, we compared serum Aβ-antibody levels of 96 patients with AD, 14 with Frontotemporal Dementia, 8 with Lewy-Body-Dementia, 18 with Vascular Dementia (VD), 31 with Major Depression (MD) and of 30 healthy controls (HC) using a newly developed immunoassay by Brahms. We found a highly significant decrease of Aβ-antibody levels in AD compared to HC (p=0,001) independently of age, cognitive status and ApoEε4-carrier-status. Aβ-antibody levels correlated to gender in AD with higher levels in women. Applying ROC-Analysis, sensitivity/ specificity was 81,3%/46,7% comparing patients with AD to HC. There was no significant difference of Aβ-antibody levels comparing AD to Non-AD-Dementia or MD. Serum Aβ-antibodies may be related to AD, but appear not to be a useful diagnostic marker for AD.

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