Plasma biomarkers and their correlation in adult children of parents with Alzheimer's disease

Ling-Chun Huang; Ming-Hui Chen; Chih-Pin Chuu; Kuan-Ying Li; Tzyh-Chyuan Hour; Yuan-Han Yang

doi:10.3389/fnagi.2022.977515

Plasma biomarkers and their correlation in adult children of parents with Alzheimer's disease

Front Aging Neurosci. 2022 Aug 30:14:977515. doi: 10.3389/fnagi.2022.977515. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Ling-Chun Huang^{1

2

3}, Ming-Hui Chen³, Chih-Pin Chuu⁴, Kuan-Ying Li^{1

2}, Tzyh-Chyuan Hour^{3

5}, Yuan-Han Yang^{1

2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Neurology, Kaohsiung Municipal Ta-Tung Hospital, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan.
² Department of Neurology, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan.
³ Neuroscience Research Center, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan.
⁴ Institute of Cellular and System Medicine, National Health Research Institutes, Zhunan, Miaoli County, Taiwan.
⁵ Department of Biochemistry, College of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan.

Abstract

Family history (FH) of late-onset Alzheimer's disease (AD) is associated with changes in several cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers in cognitively normal individuals. However, potential changes in plasma biomarkers remain unknown. This study aimed to evaluate potential plasma biomarkers and their correlation in cognitively normal adult children (AC) and to compare this data with their AD parents and unrelated non-demented controls (NC). Participants with dementia due to AD, their AC and NC were recruited. Plasma samples were assessed for amyloid beta (Aβ)_1-42, Aβ_1-40, total tau (T-tau) and phosphorylated tau (P-tau). Kruskal-Wallis test was used for the comparison of this data between the three groups. Spearman rank correlation was used for evaluation of the correlations between Aβ_1-40 and Aβ_1-42, and T-tau and P-tau in the AD and AC groups. A total of 99 subjects completed the assessment (30 had AD; 38 were AC group; and 31 were NC). Compared with the NC group, there were significantly higher levels of Aβ_1-40, P-tau, and P-tau/T-tau ratio, and lower levels of Aβ_1-42 and Aβ_1-42/Aβ_1-40 ratio in the AD and AC groups. The correlation between the level of Aβ_1-42 and Aβ_1-40 and level of T-tau and P-tau was only observed in the AC but not in the AD group. AC of AD parents demonstrate some indicators of AD like their parents. Disruption to the correlation between Aβ and tau in AD may be a biomarker for the development of AD in AC, which should be examined in a longitudinal cohort.

Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease; amyloid–beta; family history; plasma biomarker; tau.