Alzheimer's disease and other cognitive disorders Unit. Service of Neurology, Fundació Recerca Clínic Barcelona-IDIBAPS, Hospital Clínic de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
Institut of Neurosciences. Faculty of Medicine and Medical Sciences, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
Alzheimers Dement. 2024 Mar;20(3):1515-1526. doi: 10.1002/alz.13536. Epub 2023 Nov 29.
Neuroinflammation is a major contributor to the progression of frontotemporal dementia (FTD). Galectin-3 (Gal-3), a microglial activation regulator, holds promise as a therapeutic target and potential biomarker. Our study aimed to investigate Gal-3 levels in patients with FTD and assess its diagnostic potential.
We examined Gal-3 levels in brain, serum, and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples of patients with FTD and controls. Multiple linear regressions between Gal-3 levels and other FTD markers were explored.
Gal-3 levels were increased significantly in patients with FTD, mainly across brain tissue and CSF, compared to controls. Remarkably, Gal-3 levels were higher in cases with tau pathology than TAR-DNA Binding Protein 43 (TDP-43) pathology. Only MAPT mutation carriers displayed increased Gal-3 levels in CSF samples, which correlated with total tau and 14-3-3.
Our findings underscore the potential of Gal-3 as a diagnostic marker for FTD, particularly in MAPT cases, and highlights the relation of Gal-3 with neuronal injury markers.
神经炎症是额颞叶痴呆（FTD）进展的主要原因。半乳糖凝集素-3（Gal-3）作为一种小胶质细胞激活调节剂，有望成为治疗靶点和潜在的生物标志物。我们的研究旨在调查 FTD 患者的 Gal-3 水平，并评估其诊断潜力。
我们检查了 FTD 患者和对照组的大脑、血清和脑脊液（CSF）样本中的 Gal-3 水平。探讨了 Gal-3 水平与其他 FTD 标志物之间的多元线性回归关系。
与对照组相比，FTD 患者的 Gal-3 水平显著升高，主要在脑组织和 CSF 中升高。值得注意的是，Gal-3 水平在 tau 病理学病例中高于 TAR-DNA 结合蛋白 43（TDP-43）病理学病例。只有 MAPT 突变携带者的 CSF 样本中出现 Gal-3 水平升高，与总 tau 和 14-3-3 相关。
我们的发现强调了 Gal-3 作为 FTD 诊断标志物的潜力，特别是在 MAPT 病例中，并突出了 Gal-3 与神经元损伤标志物的关系。
