Nesfatin-1 and caspase-cleaved cytokeratin-18: Promising biomarkers for Alzheimer's disease?

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the use of nesfatin-1 and caspase-cleaved cytokeratin-18 serum levels as biomarkers in Alzheimer's disease. METHODS: The study group consisted of 39 patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and 39 controls. Demographic characteristics including gender, age, body mass index, mini-mental status examination (MMSE) and duration of disease were recorded. The ELISA method was used to measure serum nesfatin-1 and CCCK-18 levels in serum samples. RESULTS: Serum nesfatin-1 levels were statistically significantly higher in the AD patient group than in controls. There was no significant difference between the groups with regards to serum CCCK-18 levels. Pearson analysis showed no significant correlation between serum nesfatin-1, serum CCCK-18 levels, mini-mental status examination and disease duration. CONCLUSION: This study proved that serum nesfatin-1 levels can be used as a biomarker in Alzheimer's disease by showing a statistically significant high level of serum nesfatin-1 in patients with Alzheimer's disease. This is the first study to suggest that nesfatin-1 can be used as a biomarker in Alzheimer's disease. In addition, our study showed that CCCK-18 can be used as a prognostic biomarker for Alzheimer's disease. Further comprehensive studies should be done to clarify the use of serum nesfatin-1 and CCCK-18 levels as biomarkers for Alzheimer disease (Tab. 3, Fig. 2, Ref. 25).