Analysis of 27 vascular-related proteins reveals that NT-proBNP is a potential biomarker for Alzheimer's disease and mild cognitive impairment: A pilot-study

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a severe neurodegenerative disease. Cerebrovascular changes often accompany AD-related pathology. Despite a considerable progress in the diagnostic accuracy of AD, no blood biomarkers have been established so far. The aim of the present study was to search for changes in plasma levels of 27 vascular-related proteins of healthy controls, patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and AD. In a sample of 80 participants we showed that out of these 27 proteins, six proteins were slightly changed (up to 1.5 ×) in AD (alpha2-macroglobulin, apolipoprotein-A1, plasminogen activator inhibitor, RAGE, Tissue Inhibitors of Metalloproteinases-1 and Trombospondin-2) and one marker (serum amyloid A) was enhanced up to 6 × but with a very high variance. However, N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) was significantly enhanced both in MCI and AD patients (1.9 ×). In a second analysis of a sample of 110 subjects including younger healthy controls, we confirmed that NT-proBNP has the potential to be a stable candidate protein for both diagnosis and AD disease progression.