Changes in the Chemical Barrier Composition of Tears in Alzheimer's Disease Reveal Potential Tear Diagnostic Biomarkers

PLoS One. 2016 Jun 21;11(6):e0158000. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0158000. eCollection 2016.

Abstract

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is one of the most common neurodegenerative diseases, with increasing prevalence affecting millions of people worldwide. Currently, only autopsy is able to confirm the diagnosis with a 100% certainty, therefore, biomarkers from body fluids obtained by non-invasive means provide an attractive alternative for the diagnosis of Alzheimer`s disease. Global changes of the protein profile were examined by quantitative proteomics; firstly, electrophoresis and LC-MS/MS were used, thereafter, SRM-based targeted proteomics method was developed and applied to examine quantitative changes of tear proteins. Alterations in the tear flow rate, total tear protein concentration and composition of the chemical barrier specific to AD were demonstrated, and the combination of lipocalin-1, dermcidin, lysozyme-C and lacritin was shown to be a potential biomarker, with an 81% sensitivity and 77% specificity.

MeSH terms

  • Aged
  • Aged, 80 and over
  • Alzheimer Disease / diagnosis*
  • Alzheimer Disease / metabolism*
  • Biomarkers / analysis*
  • Eye Proteins / metabolism
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Proteomics
  • ROC Curve
  • Rheology
  • Tears / chemistry*

Substances

  • Biomarkers
  • Eye Proteins
  • tear proteins

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the New Széchenyi Plan TÁMOP 4.2.4.A/2-11-1-2012-0001 to GK, New Széchenyi Plan TÁMOP 4.2.2.A-11/1/KONV-2012-0045 to: GK AC ÉC, New Széchenyi Plan TÁMOP-4.2.2.D-15/1/KONV-2015-0016 to: JT ÉC GK, New Széchenyi Plan TÁMOP-4.2.2.B-15/1/KONV-2015-0001 to GK, National Brain Research Program KTIA_13_NAP-A-II/3 to ME, Astellas Pharma Ltd. Fellowship to GK, Janos Bolyai and Lajos Szodoray Postdoctoral Fellowships to AC. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.