Plasma levels of amyloid beta-protein 42 are increased in women with mild cognitive impairment.

BACKGROUND: Accumulation in the brain of small aggregates of amyloid beta-protein 42 (Abeta42) is the major pathogenic event of Alzheimer disease (AD). In familial early-onset AD this event is likely the result of Abeta42 overproduction; in the most common sporadic late-onset form of the disease the mechanisms of Abeta42 accumulation are unknown. METHODS: To address this issue the authors analyzed plasma levels of Abeta42 in 88 elderly patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (MCI), chosen as paradigm of preclinical sporadic AD. RESULTS: The authors found a significant increase of Abeta42 plasma levels in women with MCI, in comparison to the affected men and 72 cognitively normal age-matched subjects. The levels were independent of variables in education, apolipoprotein E genotype, cholesterol, and creatinine plasma concentrations, as well as hemoglobin content. CONCLUSIONS: The elevation of Abeta42 plasma levels in women with MCI may represent a biologic explanation for the sex-dependent increased incidence of late-onset AD in women identified by epidemiologic studies.