Serum Glycoproteomics and Identification of Potential Mechanisms Underlying Alzheimer's Disease

Objectives. This study compares glycoproteomes in Thai Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients with those of cognitively normal individuals. Methods. Study participants included outpatients with clinically diagnosed AD (N=136) and healthy controls without cognitive impairment (N=183). Blood samples were collected from all participants for biochemical analysis and for Apolipoprotein E (APOE) genotyping by real-time TaqMan PCR assays. Comparative serum glycoproteomic profiling by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry was then performed to identify differentially abundant proteins with functional relevance. Results. Statistical differences in age, educational level, and APOE epsilon 3/epsilon 4 and epsilon 4/epsilon 4 haplotype frequencies were found between the AD and control groups. The frequency of the APOE epsilon 4 allele was significantly higher in the AD group than in the control group. In total, 871 glycoproteins were identified, including 266 and 259 unique proteins in control and AD groups, respectively. There were 49 and 297 upregulated and downregulated glycoproteins, respectively, in AD samples compared with the controls. Unique AD glycoproteins were associated with numerous pathways, including Alzheimer's disease-presenilin pathway (16.6%), inflammation pathway mediated by chemokine and cytokine signaling (9.2%), Wnt signaling pathway (8.2%), and apoptosis signaling pathway (6.7%). Conclusion. Functions and pathways associated with protein-protein interactions were identified in AD. Significant changes in these proteins can indicate the molecular mechanisms involved in the pathogenesis of AD, and they have the potential to serve as AD biomarkers. Such findings could allow us to better understand AD pathology.

Automated summary

This study compared glycoproteomes in Thai Alzheimer's disease patients with cognitively normal individuals, revealing differences in APOE gene frequencies, unique glycoproteins, and associated pathways between the AD and control groups. The unique AD glycoproteins were found to be associated with multiple pathways, indicating their potential role in the pathogenesis of AD.