Reduced levels of alpha-1-antitrypsin in cerebrospinal fluid of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patients: A novel approach for a potential treatment

Uri Wormser*, Jessica Mandrioli, Marco Vinceti, Nicola Fini, Amnon Sintov, Berta Brodsky, Elena Proskura, Yoram Finkelstein

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

13 Scopus citations

Abstract

Background: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is an incurable neurodegenerative motor neuron disease that involves activation of the immune system and inflammatory response in the nervous system. Reduced level of the immuno-modulatory and anti-inflammatory protein alpha-1-antitrypsin (AAT) is associated with inflammation-related pathologies. The objective of the present is to determine AAT levels and IL-23 in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of ALS patients and control group. Findings: CSF samples from newly diagnosed ALS patients and age-matched controls were analyzed for AAT and IL-23 by ELISA and magnetic luminex screening, respectively. A statistically significant reduction of 45 % in mean AAT levels was observed in the CSF of ALS patients (21.4 μg/ml) as compared to the control group (mean 38.8 μg/ml, p = 0.013). A statistically significant increase of 30.8 % in CSF mean levels of the pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-23 was observed in ALS patients (1647 pg/ml) in comparison to the controls (1259 pg/ml, p = 0.012). A negative correlation coefficient (r = -0.543) was obtained by linear regression analysis of the two measured parameters (p = 0.036). Conclusions: Reduced AAT and elevated IL-23 CSF levels support the notion of neuroinflammatory process occurring in ALS patients. Increasing AAT levels in the patients' nervous system should be further investigated as a new therapeutic approach and a novel potential tool for ALS treatment.

Original languageEnglish
Article number131
JournalJournal of Neuroinflammation
Volume13
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Jun 2016

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 The Author(s).

Keywords

  • ALS
  • Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
  • Antitrypsin
  • Cerebrospinal fluid
  • MND
  • Motor neuron disease

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