Altered α-synuclein, parkin, and synphilin isoform levels in multiple system atrophy brains.

Together with Parkinson's disease (PD) and dementia with Lewy bodies, multiple system atrophy (MSA) is a member of a diverse group of neurodegenerative disorders termed α-synucleinopathies. Previously, it has been shown that α-synuclein, parkin, and synphilin-1 display disease-specific transcription patterns in frontal cortex in PD, dementia with Lewy bodies, and MSA, and thus may mediate the development of α-synucleinopathies. In this study, the differential expression of α-synuclein isoforms on transcriptional and translational levels was ascertained in MSA patients in comparison with PD cases and normal controls using isoform-specific primers and exon-specific antibodies in substantia nigra, striatum, cerebellar cortex, and nucleus dentatus. These regions are severely affected by α-synuclein pathology and neurodegeneration. Furthermore, we have also investigated transcript levels for parkin and synphilin-1 isoforms. In MSA brains, α-synuclein140 and α-synuclein 112 isoform levels were significantly increased, whereas levels of the α-synuclein 126 isoform were decreased in the substantia nigra, striatum, cerebellar cortex, and nucleus dentatus versus controls. Moreover, in MSA cases, we showed increased levels of parkin isoforms lacking the N-terminal ubiquitin-like domain and an aggregation-prone synphilin-1A isoform that causes neuronal toxicity in MSA. In PD brains, parkin transcript variant 3, 7, and 11 were significantly and specifically over-expressed in the striatum and cerebellar cortex, together with synphilin-1A and 1C. The changes of isoform expression profiles in neurodegenerative diseases suggest alterations in the regulation of transcription and/or splicing events, leading to regional/cellular events that may be important for the highly increased aggregation of α-synuclein in the brain. We report differential expression of α-synuclein, parkin, and synphilin-1 isoforms in multiple system atrophy (MSA) versus Parkinson's disease and normal control brains. We have focused on brain regions that are severely affected by α-synuclein pathology and neurodegeneration in MSA. The reported changes of isoform expression profiles suggest alterations in the regulation of transcription that may be important for aggregation of α-synuclein in the brain.

The diagnostic efficiency of biomarkers in sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease compared to Alzheimer's disease.

Laboratory markers have a prominent place among the diagnostic criteria for sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (sCJD). Here we investigate the capability of protein 14-3-3, total-tau (t-tau), threonin-181-phosphorylated tau (p-tau), and neuron-specific enolase (NSE) in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) together with the prion protein gene genotype to discriminate patients with sCJD (n=21) from neurological controls (n=164) and Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients (n=49). Low p-tau/t-tau ratio was the best single marker for sCJD with 90% specificity against neurological controls at 86% sensitivity whilst NSE was the least accurate with 79% sensitivity at 90% specificity. Many of the sCJD patients had extremely elevated t-tau values but normal values of the AD-marker p-tau. Protein 14-3-3 was very sensitive (95%) although the specificity was relatively low (75%). A combination of elevated t-tau concentration with the presence of 14-3-3 protein in CSF gave the best test specificity of 96% at 84% sensitivity. We conclude that the combination of more than one CSF marker for neurodegeneration can improve the diagnostic test accuracy for sCJD against neurological controls including patients with other dementias.

Characterization of the human cerebrospinal fluid phosphoproteome by titanium dioxide affinity chromatography and mass spectrometry.

Biomarkers in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) may be important for the diagnosis of chronic degenerative disorders in the central nervous system including dementia. Existing CSF biomarkers for dementia, however, are relatively nonspecific. More specific markers may be found by targeting investigations based on knowledge of the molecular pathology of the disease in question. In Alzheimer's disease, hyperphosphorylation of the tau protein is a characteristic feature and thus a comprehensive characterization of the phosphoproteome of the CSF may be pursued to obtain a complete picture of phosphorylation aberrations in health and disease. Toward that goal we here describe a method for a comprehensive isolation and identification of phosphorylated tryptic peptides derived from CSF proteins using a simple sample preparation step and titanium dioxide-affinity chromatography followed by MALDI-TOF or LC-MS/MS linear ion-trap-FT mass spectrometry. Whereas not all previously reported phosphoproteins were found in normal CSF, we detected 56 putative novel phosphorylation sites in 38 proteins in addition to known sites. The approach seems to be a promising foundation for the discovery of new biomarkers embedded in the CSF phosphoproteome.