Affiliations: [a] Centre for Quantitative Medicine, Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School, Singapore, Singapore | [b] Department of Geriatric Medicine, Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Singapore, Singapore | [c] Institute of Geriatrics and Active Ageing, Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Singapore, Singapore | [d] Research Division, Institute of Mental Health, Singapore, Singapore | [e] Gerontological Research Programme, Department of Psychological Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore | [f] Department of Pharmacology, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore | [g] Neuroscience and Behavioral Disorders Programme, Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School, Singapore, Singapore
Correspondence:
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Correspondence to: Dr. Chong Mei Sian, Institute of Geriatrics and Active Ageing, 11 Jalan Tan Tock Seng, Singapore S308433, Singapore. Tel.: +65 63596474; Fax: +65 63596294; E-mail: Mei_Sian_Chong@ttsh.com.sg and Dr. Goh Liang Kee, Duke-NUS Medical School, 8 College Road, S Rm 6–32, Singapore 169857, Singapore. Tel.: +65 6516 7654; Fax: +65 6221 8625; E-mail: liang.goh@duke-nus.edu.sg.
Abstract: We previously reported TOMM40 to be significantly down-regulated in whole blood of Alzheimer's disease (AD) subjects at baseline and after one-year. In this longitudinal follow-up study of TOMM40 expression up to 2 years, we performed 6-monthly assessments for the first year and 2nd year blood sampling on 27 probable AD subjects compared with age- and gender-matched controls. TOMM40 gene expression remained significantly lower in AD patients at all time-points compared to controls, supported by confirmatory RT-PCR results. Our findings of consistently lower TOMM40 expression on longitudinal 2-year sampling support its potential role as a diagnostic blood AD biomarker.
