Nesfatin-1 and caspase-cleaved cytokeratin-18: Promising biomarkers for Alzheimer's disease?

OBJECTIVES

To investigate the use of nesfatin-1 and caspase-cleaved cytokeratin-18 serum levels as biomarkers in Alzheimer's disease.

METHODS

The study group consisted of 39 patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and 39 controls. Demographic characteristics including gender, age, body mass index, mini-mental status examination (MMSE) and duration of disease were recorded. The ELISA method was used to measure serum nesfatin-1 and CCCK-18 levels in serum samples.

RESULTS

Serum nesfatin-1 levels were statistically significantly higher in the AD patient group than in controls. There was no significant difference between the groups with regards to serum CCCK-18 levels. Pearson analysis showed no significant correlation between serum nesfatin-1, serum CCCK-18 levels, mini-mental status examination and disease duration.

CONCLUSION

This study proved that serum nesfatin-1 levels can be used as a biomarker in Alzheimer's disease by showing a statistically significant high level of serum nesfatin-1 in patients with Alzheimer's disease. This is the first study to suggest that nesfatin-1 can be used as a biomarker in Alzheimer's disease. In addition, our study showed that CCCK-18 can be used as a prognostic biomarker for Alzheimer's disease. Further comprehensive studies should be done to clarify the use of serum nesfatin-1 and CCCK-18 levels as biomarkers for Alzheimer disease (Tab. 3, Fig. 2, Ref. 25).