Positive Association between Plasma Amylin and Cognition in a Homebound Elderly Population

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Qiu, Wei Qiao^{a; b; f; *} | Au, Rhoda^{c; f} | Zhu, Haihao^b | Wallack, Max^b | Liebson, Elizabeth^g | Li, Huajie^{b; i} | Rosenzweig, James^d | Mwamburi, Mkaya^h | Stern, Robert A.^{c; e; f}

Affiliations: [a] Department of Psychiatry, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA | [b] Department of Pharmacology & Experimental Therapeutics, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA | [c] Department of Neurology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA | [d] Department of Medicine, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA | [e] Department of Neurosurgery, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA | [f] Department of Alzheimer's Disease Center, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA | [g] McLean Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA | [h] Department of Public Health and Family Medicine, Tufts University, Medford, MA, USA | [i] Department of Neurology, The First People's Hospital of Chang Zhou, China

Correspondence: [*] Correspondence to: Wendy Wei Qiao Qiu, MD, PhD, Boston University School of Medicine, 72 East Concord Street, R-623D, Boston, MA 02118, USA. Tel.: +1 617 638 4336; Fax: +1 617 638 5254; E-mail: wqiu67@bu.edu.

Abstract: Our recent study reported that amylin, a pancreatic peptide that readily crosses the blood-brain barrier, improves learning and memory in Alzheimer's disease mouse models. However, the relationship between peripheral amylin and cognition in humans is unknown. In this follow-up study, using a cross-sectional, homebound elderly population, improvement in cognitive function with increasing quartiles of plasma amylin was suggested by positive association with verbal memory (p = 0.0002) and visuoconstruction tasks (p = 0.004), and inverse association with timed measures of attention (p < 0.0001) and executive function (p = 0.04). After adjusting for demographic information, apolipoprotein E4 allele, diabetes, stroke, kidney function, and lipid profile, log10 of plasma amylin remained associated with these cognitive domains. In contrast, plasma amyloid-β peptide was not associated with these specific cognitive domains. Our study suggests that peripheral amylin may be protective for cognitive decline, especially in the domains affected by Alzheimer's disease.

Keywords: Amylin, cognition, memory, visuospatial and executive function

DOI: 10.3233/JAD-140210

Journal: Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, vol. 42, no. 2, pp. 555-563, 2014