Laske Christoph, Stellos Konstantinos, Stransky Elke, Seizer Peter, Akcay Ozlem, Eschweiler Gerhard W, Leyhe Thomas, Gawaz Meinrad
Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Tuebingen, Tuebingen, Germany.
J Alzheimers Dis. 2008 Nov;15(3):451-60. doi: 10.3233/jad-2008-15311.
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is characterized by massive neuronal cell loss in the brain. Stem cell factor (SCF) is a hematopoietic growth factor (HGF) that promotes neuroprotective effects and supports neurogenesis in the brain. In the present study, we found significantly lower SCF plasma levels in 30 early AD patients (908.5 +/- 181.7 pg/ml) in comparison with 30 age-matched healthy controls (1058.3 +/- 221.5 pg/ml; p = 0.006). SCF plasma levels in AD patients showed a significant inverse correlation with dementia severity as measured by ADAS-Cog (r = -0.289; p = 0.037). AD patients showed significantly lower SCF levels in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) (131.60 +/- 43.03 pg/ml) in comparison with 15 age- and gender-matched patients with other non-inflammatory neurological disease (NIND) (166.03 +/- 42.5 pg/ml; p = 0.017). In addition, we found significant positive correlations between SCF and CXCL12 (also known as SDF-1) plasma levels in healthy controls (r = 0.341; p = 0.008) and between SCF and CXCL12 CSF levels in AD patients (r = 0.487; p < 0.001). In conclusion, decreased SCF plasma and CSF levels in early AD patients may contribute to a deficient hematopoietic brain support with putative pathogenic and clinical relevance. Further studies are needed to examine whether a manipulation of HGFs such as SCF could be a promising new therapeutic strategy for AD.
阿尔茨海默病（AD）的特征是大脑中大量神经元细胞丢失。干细胞因子（SCF）是一种造血生长因子（HGF），具有促进神经保护作用并支持大脑中的神经发生。在本研究中，我们发现30例早期AD患者的SCF血浆水平（908.5±181.7 pg/ml）显著低于30例年龄匹配的健康对照（1058.3±221.5 pg/ml；p = 0.006）。AD患者的SCF血浆水平与通过ADAS-Cog测量的痴呆严重程度呈显著负相关（r = -0.289；p = 0.037）。与15例年龄和性别匹配的其他非炎性神经系统疾病（NIND）患者相比，AD患者脑脊液（CSF）中的SCF水平显著降低（131.60±43.03 pg/ml）（166.03±42.5 pg/ml；p = 0.017）。此外，我们发现健康对照中SCF与CXCL12（也称为SDF-1）血浆水平之间存在显著正相关（r = 0.341；p = 0.008），AD患者中SCF与CXCL12脑脊液水平之间也存在显著正相关（r = 0.487；p < 0.001）。总之，早期AD患者SCF血浆和脑脊液水平降低可能导致造血脑支持不足，具有潜在的致病和临床相关性。需要进一步研究以检查对诸如SCF等造血生长因子的调控是否可能成为AD的一种有前景的新治疗策略。
