Background: Alzheimer's disease (AD) diagnosis is difficult, and new accurate tools based on peripheral biofluids are urgently needed. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) emerged as a valuable source of biomarker profiles for AD, since their cargo is disease-specific and these can be easily isolated from easily accessible biofluids, as blood. Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy can be employed to analyze EVs and obtain the spectroscopic profiles from different regions of the spectra, simultaneously characterizing carbohydrates, nucleic acids, proteins, and lipids.
Objective: The aim of this study was to identify blood-derived EVs (bdEVs) spectroscopic signatures with AD discriminatory potential.
Methods: Herein, FTIR spectra of bdEVs from two biofluids (serum and plasma) and distinct sets of Controls and AD cases were acquired, and EVs' spectra analyzed.
Results: Analysis of bdEVs second derivative peaks area revealed differences between Controls and AD cases in distinct spectra regions, assigned to carbohydrates and nucleic acids, amides, and lipids.
Conclusions: EVs' spectroscopic profiles presented AD discriminatory value, supporting the use of bdEVs combined with FTIR as a screening or complementary tool for AD diagnosis.
Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease; biomarker; diagnosis; extracellular vesicles; lipids; nucleic acids; proteins.