ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Deposition of beta-amyloid protein is the main cause of Alzheimer disease. Overexpression of β-amyloid precursor protein gene (βAPP-gene) or mutation of it at certain part can be related with the attack of Alzheimer disease.OBJECTIVE: To observe the relationship of Alzheimer disease and β-amyloid protein with β APP-gene in Yimeng mountainous area.DESIGN: A case-control analysis study.SETTING: Department of Neurology, Linyi Municipal People's Hospital.PARTICIPANTS: Thirty-two Alzheimer disease inpatients were enrolled at the Department of Neurology, Linyi Municipal People's Hospital affiliated to Linyi Medical Professional College between January 2001 and December 2003. Thirty elderly patients who were treated with surgery of noncraniocerebral injury and were of the same sex and the similar age were regarded as the members of the control group [score of Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) was over 27 points].METHODS: Level of β-amyloid protein in cerebrospinal fluid was detected with enzyme-linked immunoadsordent assay (ELISA). Expression of βAPP-gene was measured with the technic of fluorescent quantitative polymerase chain reaction.RESULTS: A total of 62 cases were involved in the result analysis. ①The level of β-amyloid protein in cerebrospinal fluid in the Alzheimer disease group was higher significantly than that in the control group[(13.63±9.34), (6.75±5.37)μg/L,t=3.354, P ＜ 0.01]. ② The expression ofβ APP in cerebrospinal fluid in the Alzheimer disease group was higher significantly than that in the control group [(1 624±298), (1275±269)copy/μL,t=4.42, P ＜ 0.01]. ③ The level of β-amyloid protein was posit ively correlated with the expression of β APP-gene in the Alzheimer disease group (r=0.44,P＜ 0.01).CONCLUSION: The level of β-amyloid protein and the expression of β APP-gene in cerebrospinal fluid of Alzheimer disease patients in the Yimeng Mountainous area increase. Besides, the higher the level of β-amyloid protein, the higher the expression of β APP-gene is, and the severer the degree of dementia is. It indicates that Alzheimer disease has closely relation with β-amyloid protein and β APP-gene. But the expression of the β APP-gene has no specificity in the diagnosis of Alzheimer disease.