Association of plasma YKL-40 with brain amyloid-β levels, memory performance, and sex in subjective memory complainers

[摘要] Neuroinflammation, a key early pathomechanistic alteration of Alzheimer's disease, may represent either a detrimental or a compensatory mechanism or both (according to the disease stage). YKL-40, a glycoprotein highly expressed in differentiated glial cells, is a candidate biomarker for in vivo tracking neuroinflammation in humans. We performed a longitudinal study in a monocentric cohort of cognitively healthy individuals at risk for Alzheimer's disease exploring whether age, sex, and the apolipoprotein E epsilon 4 allele affect plasma YKL-40 concentrations. We investigated whether YKL-40 is associated with brain amyloid-beta (A beta) deposition, neuronal activity, and neurodegeneration as assessed via neuroimaging biomarkers. Finally, we investigated whether YKL-40 may predict cognitive performance. We found an age-associated increase of YKL-40 and observed that men display higher concentrations than women, indicating a potential sexual dimorphism. Moreover, YKL-40 was positively associated with memory performance and negatively associated with brain A beta deposition (but not with metabolic signal). Consistent with translational studies, our results suggest a potentially protective effect of glia on incipient brain A beta accumulation and neuronal homeostasis. (C) 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

[发布日期] 2020-12-01

[关键词] Alzheimer's disease;Neuroinflammation;YKL-40;Sex;Amyloid