ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE: IDENTIFIED ONE
UPREGULATED GLYCOPROTEIN
Huang
and colleagues are studying all the main brain glycoproteins and their
preliminary results were recently reported in the European Journal of
Neuroscience (Elevation in the level and activity of
acid ceramidase in Alzheimer’s disease brain. Eur. J. Neurosci 20, 3489-3497,
2004).
They
used affinity chromatography to isolate glycoproteins from post-mortem cerebral
cortical tissue. The glycoproteins were separated using SDS-polyacrilamide gel
electrophoresis and analysed by mass spectrometry. Eleven glycoproteins were
isolated and only one showed increased expression levels and activity in the
brains of individuals who suffered from Alzheimer’s disease: the β-subunit
of the lysosomal enzyme acid ceramidase.
The
enzyme showed marked co-localization with the intracellular neurofibrillary
tangles.