Plasmin system of Alzheimer's disease patients: CSF analysis

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a multifactorial neurodegenerative disorder characterized by the extracellular deposit of Amyloid beta (Aβ), mainly of the Amyloid beta _1-42 (Aβ _1-42) peptide in the hippocampus and neocortex leading to progressive cognitive decline and dementia. The possible imbalance between the Aβ production/degradation process was suggested to contribute to the pathogenesis of AD. Among others, the serine protease plasmin has shown to be involved in Aβ _1-42 clearance, a hypothesis strengthened by neuropathological studies on AD brains. To explore whether there is a change in plasmin system in CSF of AD patients, we analyzed CSF samples from AD and age-matched controls, looking at plasminogen, tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA) and plasminogen activator inhibitor (PAI-1) protein levels and t-PA and urokinase plasminogen activator (u-PA) enzymatic activities. We also measured Aβ _1-42, total-tau and phospho-tau ₁₈₁ CSF levels and sought for a possible relationship between them and plasmin system values. Our findings showed that t-PA, plasminogen and PAI-1 levels, as t-PA enzymatic activity, remained unchanged in AD with respect to controls; u-PA activity was not detected. We conclude that CSF analysis of plasminogen system does not reflect changes observed post-mortem. Unfortunately, the CSF detection of plasmin system could not be a useful biomarker for either AD diagnosis or disease progression. However, these findings do not exclude the possible involvement of the plasmin system in AD.