Cacabelos R, Alvarez X A, Franco-Maside A, Fernández-Novoa L, Caamaño J
Department of Human Physiology, Complutense University Medical School, Madrid, Spain.
Methods Find Exp Clin Pharmacol. 1994 Jan-Feb;16(1):29-35.
Changes in neuroimmune parameters and cytokine production have been reported in patients with Alzheimer's disease, including increased levels of interleukin-1 (IL-1) and histamine in brain tissue, cerebrospinal fluid and serum. Specific neuroimmune reactions may be responsible in part for astrogliosis and neuronal death in particular circumstances. Since IL-1 and tumor necrosis factor (TNF) tend to act synergistically in physiological conditions and in some pathological processes, we have studied the concentration of TNF-alpha in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) or multi-infarct dementia (MID) and in age-matched control subjects (CS) in order to evaluate possible changes in the levels of this cytokine with potential influence on the pathogenesis of AD. Serum TNF-alpha levels were significantly lower in AD (2.5 +/- 1.25 pg/ml, p < 0.01) and MID (1.64 +/- 1.17 pg/ml, p < 0.001) than in CS (10.66 +/- 8.92 pg/ml). A negative correlation between serum TNF-alpha levels and age in AD was found (r = -0.645, p < 0.01); however, no significant correlations were detected between serum TNF-alpha levels and mental performance, cerebrovascular risk, heart rate and blood pressure in either AD or MID. In conclusion, there is a marked reduction in the concentration of serum TNF-alpha in both AD and MID which seems to be poorly related to cognitive dysfunction and/or neurovascular damage, probably reflecting an endogenous immune dysregulation and/or an inhibitory reactive process in demented patients.
据报道，阿尔茨海默病患者存在神经免疫参数变化和细胞因子产生情况，包括脑组织、脑脊液和血清中白细胞介素 -1（IL-1）和组胺水平升高。特定的神经免疫反应在某些情况下可能部分导致星形胶质细胞增生和神经元死亡。由于IL-1和肿瘤坏死因子（TNF）在生理条件和某些病理过程中往往协同作用，我们研究了阿尔茨海默病（AD）或多发梗死性痴呆（MID）患者以及年龄匹配的对照受试者（CS）中TNF-α的浓度，以评估这种细胞因子水平的可能变化及其对AD发病机制的潜在影响。AD患者（2.5±1.25 pg/ml，p<0.01）和MID患者（1.64±1.17 pg/ml，p<0.001）的血清TNF-α水平显著低于CS（10.66±8.92 pg/ml）。在AD患者中发现血清TNF-α水平与年龄呈负相关（r = -0.645，p<0.01）；然而，在AD或MID患者中，血清TNF-α水平与心理表现、脑血管风险、心率和血压之间均未检测到显著相关性。总之，AD和MID患者血清TNF-α浓度均显著降低，这似乎与认知功能障碍和/或神经血管损伤关系不大，可能反映了痴呆患者内源性免疫失调和/或抑制性反应过程。
