Naturally occurring antibodies against synthetic fragment of neurotrophin receptor P75 in sera of cognitively impaired patients
Abstrakt
Aims:Alzheimer's disease is characterized by extracellular inclusions of beta-amyloid peptide. This peptide interacts with neuronal receptors in the human brain such as neurotrophin receptor P75 and neuronal acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) α7-type and pulls them down into plaques.
Degraded receptors may introduce new antigenic epitopes to be recognized by specific antibodies in AD patients. The aim of the present work was to estimate the levels of the naturally occurring antibodies against two peptides derived from neuronal receptors -P75 and α7-type nAChR in sera of patients with different cognitive impairment.
Methods: We have used short fragments from the extracellular part of each receptor that participates in the interaction with betaamyloid peptide, and measured levels of antibodies against them in the serum of different groups of patients (n = 74) by ELISA. Results and Conclusion: We found antibodies against the fragment of P75 receptor only.
These levels tend to be higher in patients with mild cognitive impairment. This study provides findings suggesting the immunologic response to neurotrophin receptor P75 in cognitively impaired subjects.