TY - JOUR T1 - Differential levels of α-synuclein, β-amyloid42 and tau in CSF between patients with dementia with Lewy bodies and Alzheimer's disease JF - Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry JO - J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry SP - 608 LP - 610 DO - 10.1136/jnnp.2009.197483 VL - 81 IS - 6 AU - Kensaku Kasuga AU - Takayoshi Tokutake AU - Atsushi Ishikawa AU - Tsuyoshi Uchiyama AU - Takahiko Tokuda AU - Osamu Onodera AU - Masatoyo Nishizawa AU - Takeshi Ikeuchi Y1 - 2010/06/01 UR - http://jnnp.bmj.com/content/81/6/608.abstract N2 - Background The clinical diagnosis of dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) is made on the basis of consensus criteria; however, the sensitivity of the criteria is relatively low. There are no generally accepted biomarkers to distinguish DLB from other dementias. Here the utility of quantification of α-synuclein, β-amyloid42 (Aβ42) and tau in the CSF of patients with DLB, Alzheimer's disease (AD) and other dementias was examined.Methods 86 patients were divided into three age and sex matched groups: DLB (n=34), AD (n=31) and other dementias (n=21). Two patients with α-synuclein gene (SNCA) duplication were also examined. Aβ and tau were quantified using an ELISA kit. A modified sandwich ELISA was developed which enables the sensitive quantification of CSF α-synuclein.Results Total and phosphorylated tau levels as well as Aβ40/42 and tau/Aβ42 ratios were significantly higher in AD patients than in patients with DLB (p<0.01) and other dementias (p<0.01). CSF α-synuclein levels in DLB patients were significantly lower than those in patients with AD (p<0.05) and other dementias (p<0.01). CSF α-synuclein level correlated with the Aβ42 level in DLB patients (p=0.01, r=0.43). Two patients with SNCA duplication exhibited relatively low levels of CSF α-synuclein.Conclusions The study suggests that reduced levels of CSF α-synuclein in DLB may reflect the accumulation of α-synuclein with Lewy pathology in the brain and that quantification of CSF α-synuclein helps in the differentiation of DLB from AD and other dementias in combination with Aβ42 and tau analysis. ER -