Altered Levels of Visinin-Like Protein 1 Correspond to Regional Neuronal Loss in Alzheimer Disease and Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration

• Published in: Journal of neuropathology and experimental neurology Vol. 75; no. 2; pp. 175 - 182
• Main Authors: Kirkwood, Caitlin M., MacDonald, Matthew L., Schempf, Tadhg A., Vatsavayi, Anil V., Ikonomovic, Milos D., Koppel, Jeremy L., Ding, Ying, Sun, Mai, Kofler, Julia K., Lopez, Oscar L., Yates, Nathan A., Sweet, Robert A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Oxford University Press 01.02.2016; by American Association of Neuropathologists, Inc
• Subjects: Age of Onset; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; alpha-Synuclein - biosynthesis; alpha-Synuclein - genetics; Alzheimer Disease - cerebrospinal fluid; Alzheimer Disease - genetics; Alzheimer Disease - pathology; Amino Acid Sequence; Amyloid beta-Peptides - biosynthesis; Amyloid beta-Peptides - genetics; Autopsy; Biomarkers - analysis; Cell Death; Entorhinal Cortex - pathology; Female; Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration - cerebrospinal fluid; Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration - genetics; Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration - pathology; Gyrus Cinguli - pathology; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Molecular Sequence Data; Neurocalcin - cerebrospinal fluid; Neurocalcin - genetics; Neurons - pathology; Original; tau Proteins - biosynthesis; tau Proteins - genetics; Frontotemporal lobar degeneration; Human postmortem brain tissue; Alzheimer disease; Visinin-like 1 protein (Vilip-1)
• ISSN: 0022-3069; 1554-6578; 1554-6578
• DOI: 10.1093/jnen/nlv018

Recent studies have implicated the neuronal calcium-sensing protein visinin-like 1 protein (Vilip-1) as a peripheral biomarker in Alzheimer disease (AD), but little is known about expression of Vilip-1 in the brains of patients with AD. We used targeted and quantitative mass spectrometry to measure Vilip-1 peptide levels in the entorhinal cortex (ERC) and the superior frontal gyrus (SF) from cases with early to moderate stage AD, frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD), and cognitively and neuropathologically normal elderly controls. We found that Vilip-1 levels were significantly lower in the ERC, but not in SF, of AD subjects compared to normal controls. In FTLD cases, Vilip-1 levels in the SF were significantly lower than in normal controls. These findings suggest a unique role for cerebrospinal fluid Vilip-1 as a biomarker of ERC neuron loss in AD.