TY - JOUR TI - Vitamin B12 levels in Alzheimer's disease: Association with clinical features and cytokine production AU - Politis, A. AU - Olgiati, P. AU - Malitas, P. AU - Albani, D. AU - Signorini, A. AU - Polito, L. AU - De Mauro, S. AU - Zisaki, A. AU - Piperi, C. AU - Stamouli, E. AU - Mailis, A. AU - Batelli, S. AU - Forloni, G. AU - De Ronchi, D. AU - Kalofoutis, A. AU - Liappas, I. AU - Serretti, A. JO - Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD PY - 2010 VL - 19 TODO - 2 SP - 481-488 PB - IOS Press BV SN - null TODO - 10.3233/JAD-2010-1252 TODO - apolipoprotein E; cyanocobalamin; cytokine; gamma interferon; interleukin 6; tumor necrosis factor alpha, aged; allele; Alzheimer disease; article; binding assay; case study; clinical feature; controlled study; cytokine production; depression; disease duration; enzyme linked immunospot assay; female; genotype; human; major clinical study; male; mini mental state examination; neuropsychiatry; pathogenesis; pathophysiology; peripheral blood mononuclear cell; priority journal; protein expression; radioassay; rating scale; scoring system; vitamin blood level TODO - Alzheimer's disease (AD) has been associated with up-regulation of pro-inflammatory cytokines (e.g., specific gene variants for TNF-α; IL-6; IFN-γ) and low plasma levels of cyanocobalamin (vitamin B12). Our goal was to relate B12 levels to AD symptoms and to expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines. Clinical manifestations were investigated for a case series of fifty-five outpatients using the MMSE, Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI) and Cornell Scale for Depression in Dementia (CDDS). Plasma B12 levels were measured by radioligand binding assay. Basal and PMA-stimulated levels of IFN-γ, TNF-α, and IL-6 were measured by ELISPOT (PBMC culture supernatant). 47 patients were genotyped for APOE. Ten patients (18%) had their B12 levels below < 250 pg/ml. They did not statistically differ from those 45 who had normal levels in most demographic and clinical features; their MMSE scores were lower (14.7 vs 19.6 p=0.03) but not after adjustment for disease duration. A greater basal production of IL-6 was reported in patients who had low B12 levels compared to normal B12 subjects (1333 pg/ml vs 976 p< 0.01); this association was confirmed after controlling for age of onset and APOE genotype. In conclusion, low B12 level is associated with greater production of IL-6 in peripheral blood mononuclear cells. Further research is warranted to elucidate whether this neuroinflammatory effect of cobalamin is implicated in the pathophysiology of AD. © 2010 - IOS Press and the authors. All rights reserved. ER -