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Relation of Plasma Homocysteine to Plasma Amyloid Beta Levels

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Abstract

Background

Elevated plasma homocysteine and amyloid β (Aβ) have been associated with Alzheimer’s disease (AD). We investigated the cross-sectional association between these biomarkers.

Methods

We used linear regression to relate plasma homocysteine and Aβ adjusting for age, gender, creatinine, APOE-ε4, and ethnic group in 327 persons aged 78 ± 6.6 years.

Results

Plasma homocysteine correlated with age, serum creatinine, plasma Aβ40 and Aβ42, and was inversely correlated with serum vitamin B12, and folate. Aβ42, but not Aβ40, was related to later development of dementia. Homocysteine was related to higher Aβ40 levels (coefficient = 2.0; P < 0.0001) and this association was attenuated after adjustment for creatinine (coefficient = 1.0; P < 0.0001). The crude association between homocysteine and Aβ42 was weaker (coefficient = 0.5; P = 0.01) and became non-significant after adjustment for creatinine (coefficient = 0.4; P = 0.06). These associations were unrelated to ethnicity, the presence of APOE-ε4 or dementia. Analyses by quartiles of homocysteine showed that these association were driven primarily by the fourth quartile.

Conclusions

Plasma homocysteine is directly related to Aβ40. The association with Aβ42 is not significant. These results seem to indicate that homocysteine is related to aging but not specifically to AD.

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Acknowledgments

Support for this work was provided by grants from the National Institutes of Health AG15294, AG07232, AG07702, AG20856, RR00645 from the Charles S. Robertson Memorial Gift for research on Alzheimer’s disease, and from the Blanchette Hooker Rockefeller Foundation.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Taub Institute for Research of Alzheimer’s Disease and the Aging Brain, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA

    José A. Luchsinger, Ming-Xin Tang & Richard Mayeux

  2. Division of General Medicine, Department of Medicine, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, NY, USA

    José A. Luchsinger

  3. Division of Biostatistics, Joseph P. Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA

    Ming-Xin Tang

  4. Division of Epidemiology, Joseph P. Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA

    Richard Mayeux

  5. Department of Medical Pathology, School of Medicine, University of California, Davis, CA, USA

    Joshua Miller & Ralph Green

  6. Gertrude H. Sergievsky Center, Columbia University, 630 West 168th Street, New York, NY, 10032, USA

    Richard Mayeux

  7. Department of Neurology, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, NY, USA

    Richard Mayeux

  8. Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, NY, USA

    Richard Mayeux

  9. Department of Immunology, Institute for Basic Research in Developmental Disabilities, Staten Island, NY, USA

    Pankash D. Mehta

Authors
  1. José A. Luchsinger
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  2. Ming-Xin Tang
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  3. Joshua Miller
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  4. Ralph Green
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  5. Pankash D. Mehta
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  6. Richard Mayeux
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Correspondence to Richard Mayeux.

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Special issue dedicated to John P. Blass.

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Luchsinger, J.A., Tang, MX., Miller, J. et al. Relation of Plasma Homocysteine to Plasma Amyloid Beta Levels. Neurochem Res 32, 775–781 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11064-006-9207-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11064-006-9207-7

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