The cerebrospinal fluid stromal cell‐derived factor 1 (CXCL12) concentration in Alzheimer’s disease: Biomarkers (non‐neuroimaging) / Novel biomarkers

Background Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is one of the most common age‐related neurodegenerative diseases. Many molecular mechanisms are underlying in the foundations of AD, e.g. inflammation, tauopathy, amyloid Beta cascade pathology or imbalance of calcium. Neuroinflammation is highly related to proinflammatory proteins and chemokines, widely distributed in the central nervous system (CNS). Interestingly, in AD pathology chemokines with CXC motif were detected in human fluids. The stromal cell‐derived factor 1 (SDF1), known as chemokine CXCL12, was a proinflammatory chemokine, highly expressed in the CNS. Their role is not clearly defined and still not fully understood, but they may regulate synaptic transmission in excitability neurons and modulate neuroglial communication. CXCL12 was detected in plasma and hippocampus AD patients. Levels of this chemokine were considerably decreased compared to the control group. In our investigation, the purposes were the quantitative assessment of CXCL12 levels in the cerebrospinal fluid and evaluation of the potential usefulness of this protein in the diagnosis of AD patients. Method The cerebrospinal fluid levels of CXCL12 and classical AD biomarkers, such as Aβ‐42, Aβ‐42/Aβ‐40, hTau and pTau181 were assessed by immunoenzyme assays. The study included 15 patients with AD and 15 non‐demented controls. Result In our research, we showed that the concentration of CXCL12 was significantly higher in cerebrospinal fluid of AD patients compared to non‐demented controls. The increased CSF levels of CXCL12 were significantly correlated with Aβ‐42, Aβ‐42/Aβ‐40 ratio and pTau181 in AD subjects. Conclusion These results point at the CXCL12 is a promising indicator of the inflammatory AD pathology. Furthermore, it seems to be an essential factor for future investigation and may prove to be useful for differential diagnostics.