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Blood levels of histamine, IL-1β, and TNF-α in patients with mild to moderate alzheimer disease

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Molecular and Chemical Neuropathology

Abstract

In this study, we have evaluated the levels of blood histamine, serum interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β), and plasma tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) in 20 patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer disease (AD; 13 early onset and 7 late-onset AD subjects) and in 20 agematched control subjects (C). AD patients showed higher concentrations of histamine (AD=452.9±237.9 pmol/mL; C=275.3±151.5 pmol/mL;p<0.05) and IL-1β (AD=211.2±31.1 pg/mL; C=183.4±24.4 pg/mL;p<0.01), and lower values of TNF-α (AD=3.59±2.02 pg/mL; C=9.47±2.64 pg/mL;p<0.001) than elderly controls. Increased levels of histamine and decreased levels of TNF-α were observed in both early onset AD (EOAD) and late-onset AD (LOAD) patients, but only EOAD subjects had elevated serum IL-1β values compared with age-matched controls. Age negatively correlated with histamine (r=−0.57;p<0.05) and positively with IL-1β levels (r=0.48;p<0.05) in healthy subjects, but not in AD, whereas a positive correlation between TNF-α scores and age was only found in AD patients (r=0.46;p<0.05). Furthermore, histamine and TNF-α values correlated negatively in AD (r=−0.50,p<0.05). In addition, cognitive impairment increased in patients with lower TNF-α and higher histamine and IL-1β levels, as indicated by the correlations between mental performance scores and histamine (r=−0.37, ns), IL-1β (r=−0.33, ns) and TNF-α levels (r=0.42,p<0.05). Finally, histamine concentrations decreased as depression scores increased in AD (r=−0.63,p<0.01). These data suggest a dysfunction in cytokine and histamine regulation in AD, probably indicating changes associated with inflammatory processes.

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  1. Santa Marta de Babío, EuroEspes Research Center, 15166, Bergondo, A Coruña, Spain

    X. Antón Alvarez, Andrés Franco, Lucía Fernández-Novoa & Ramón Cacabelos

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  1. X. Antón Alvarez
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  2. Andrés Franco
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  3. Lucía Fernández-Novoa
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  4. Ramón Cacabelos
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Alvarez, X.A., Franco, A., Fernández-Novoa, L. et al. Blood levels of histamine, IL-1β, and TNF-α in patients with mild to moderate alzheimer disease. Molecular and Chemical Neuropathology 29, 237–252 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02815005

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