Pregnancy Zone Protein is Increased in the Alzheimer’s Disease Brain and Associates with Senile Plaques

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Nijholt, Diana A.T.^{a; 1} | Ijsselstijn, Linda^{a; 1} | van der Weiden, Marcel M.^b | Zheng, Ping-Pin^b | Sillevis Smitt, Peter A. E.^a | Koudstaal, Peter J.^a | Luider, Theo M.^a | Kros, Johan M.^{b; *}

Affiliations: [a] Department of Neurology, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands | [b] Department of Pathology, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Correspondence: [*] Correspondence to: Johan M. Kros, MD, PhD, Department of Pathology, Erasmus Medical Center, P.O. Box 2040, 3000 CA Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Tel.: +31 10 7043905; j.m.kros@erasmusmc.nl

Note: [1] These authors contributed equally to this manuscript.

Abstract: Increased levels of pregnancy zone protein (PZP) were found in the serum of persons who later developed Alzheimer’s disease (AD) in comparison to controls who remained dementia free. We suggested that this increase is due to brain derived PZP entering the blood stream during the early phase of the disease. Here we investigate the possible involvement of PZP in human AD pathogenesis. We observed increased PZP immunoreactivity in AD postmortem brain cortex compared to non-demented controls. In the AD cortex, PZP immunoreactivity localized to microglial cells that interacted with senile plaques and was occasionally observed in neurons. Our data link the finding of elevated serum PZP levels with the characteristic AD pathology and identify PZP as a novel component in AD.

Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease, microglia, pregnancy zone protein

DOI: 10.3233/JAD-131628

Journal: Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, vol. 46, no. 1, pp. 227-238, 2015