Biomarkers

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ResearchersAgainstAlzheimer's would like to thank Roche Diagnostics for their support of this project.
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Sphingolipids

Method of Measurement (Pre-analytical Tools)
Blood/Plasma
Biomarker Measured
Unknown
Use
Susceptibility/risk
Stage of Development
Clinical trials
Active vs Completed Trials
Completed
Aim/Results

Four sphingolipids (SM C16:0; SM C16:1; SM (OH) C14:1;SM C18:1) measured from the blood in cognitively normal individuals were significantly associated with increased risk of future conversion to incident AD. The sphingolipid species identified map to several biologically relevant pathways implicated in AD, including tau phosphorylation, amyloid-β (Aβ) metabolism, calcium homeostasis, acetylcholine biosynthesis, and apoptosis. It should be noted, in a different study, findings indicate among men, the highest tertile of most sphingomyelins were associated with an increased risk of AD. In contrast, women in the highest tertile of most sphingomyelins had a reduced risk of AD, which was most pronounced among APOE ɛ4 carriers. These results highlight the importance of considering sex and APOE genotype in assessing this relationship.

What is Required from Patients

blood draw, mild discomfort, in clinic visits

What is Required from the Health System

phlebotomist, equipped lab (e.g., centrifuge), a way to measure the peptide (e.g.,mass spectrometer, protein assay kit, ELISA, western blot, or qPCR)

Sponsor

Clinical and Translational Neuroscience Unit, Laboratory of Behavioral Neuroscience, National Institute on Aging (NIA), National Institutes of Health (NIH); Consilience Research Advisors LLP, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India; HiThru Analytics, Laurel, Maryland; Department of Biostatistical Science, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina; Department of Mental Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland; Department of Neurology, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, North Carolina; Department of Pathology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland; Department of Neurology, Houston Methodist Hospital, Houston, Texas; Rosa & Co LLC, San Carlos, California; Institute of Bioinformatics and Systems Biology, Helmholtz Zentrum München, German Research Center for Environmental Health; German Center for Diabetes Research (DZD), Neuherberg, Germany; Department of Radiology and Imaging Sciences and the Indiana Alzheimer Disease Center, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana;Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina; Department of Medicine, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina; IPS, Faculty of Life Sciences and Medicine, King's College London, London, United Kingdom

  1. Fonteh, A. N., Ormseth, C., Chiang, J., Cipolla, M., Arakaki, X., & Harrington, M. G. (2015). Sphingolipid metabolism correlates with cerebrospinal fluid Beta amyloid levels in Alzheimer’s disease. PloS one, 10(5), e0125597. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25938590

  2. Mielke, M. M., Haughey, N. J., Han, D., An, Y., Bandaru, V. V. R., Lyketsos, C. G., ... & Resnick, S. M. (2017). The association between plasma ceramides and sphingomyelins and risk of Alzheimer’s disease differs by sex and APOE in the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging. Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, 60(3), 819-828. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28035934

  3. Varma, V. R., Oommen, A. M., Varma, S., Casanova, R., An, Y., Andrews, R. M., ... & Baillie, R. (2018). Brain and blood metabolite signatures of pathology and progression in Alzheimer disease: A targeted metabolomics study. PLoS medicine, 15(1), e1002482. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29370177