Chao C C, Ala T A, Hu S, Crossley K B, Sherman R E, Peterson P K, Frey W H
Neuroimmunobiology and Host Defense Laboratory, Minneapolis Medical Research Foundation, MN 55404, USA.
Clin Diagn Lab Immunol. 1994 Jul;1(4):433-6. doi: 10.1128/cdli.1.4.433-436.1994.
Alzheimer's disease (AD) has been proposed to be an inflammatory disorder. In a recent study, markedly elevated levels of the anti-inflammatory cytokine transforming growth factor beta (TGF-beta) in the serum and cerebrospinal fluid of patients with advanced AD suggested a potential predictive value of this cytokine in patients with AD. In the present prospective study, we tested the hypothesis that the levels of TGF-beta in serum would be increased in patients with AD and could thereby serve as a diagnostic marker. We found that serum TGF-beta levels but not proinflammatory cytokine levels were significantly (P < 0.05) elevated in patients with AD (n = 22) in comparison with the levels in their healthy spousal controls. Also, serum TGF-beta levels were positively correlated (r = 0.45; P < 0.05) with disease severity. Nevertheless, the elevation in serum TGF-beta levels in patients with Ad was modest, and considerable overlap with the control values suggests that the diagnostic usefulness of this cytokine for AD is limited.
阿尔茨海默病（AD）被认为是一种炎症性疾病。在最近一项研究中，晚期AD患者血清和脑脊液中抗炎细胞因子转化生长因子β（TGF-β）水平显著升高，提示该细胞因子在AD患者中具有潜在的预测价值。在本前瞻性研究中，我们检验了以下假设：AD患者血清中TGF-β水平会升高，因此可作为诊断标志物。我们发现，与健康配偶对照相比，AD患者（n = 22）血清TGF-β水平显著升高（P < 0.05），但促炎细胞因子水平未升高。此外，血清TGF-β水平与疾病严重程度呈正相关（r = 0.45；P < 0.05）。然而，AD患者血清TGF-β水平升高幅度较小，且与对照值有相当大的重叠，这表明该细胞因子对AD的诊断价值有限。
