Journal of Alzheimers Disease & Parkinsonism
Open Access

Rapid Communication

Effect of Anticoagulants on Amyloid^®-Protein Precursor and Amyloid Beta Levels in Plasma

Cara J. Westmark^1*, Crystal M. Hervey³, Elizabeth M. Berry-Kravi^3,4,5 and James S. Maltera²

¹Waisman Center for Developmental Disabilities

²Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53705

³Department of Pediatrics, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL 60612 Running Title: Blood Anticoagulants and AD Biomarkers

⁴Biochemistry, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL 60612 Running Title: Blood Anticoagulants and AD Biomarkers

⁵Neurological Sciences, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL 60612 Running Title: Blood Anticoagulants and AD Biomarkers

Corresponding Author:

Dr. Cara J. Westmark
Waisman Center for Developmental Disabilities
Room T507, 1500 Highland Avenue
Madison, WI 53705
Tel: (608) 262-9730
Fax: (608) 263-0529
E-mail: westmark@wisc.edu

Received date: July 15, 2011;Accepted date: July 22, 2011; Published date: July 24, 2011

Citation: West mark CJ, Hervey CM, Berry-Kravisc EM, Maltera JS (2011) Effect of Anticoagulants on Amyloid®-Protein Precursor and Amyloid Beta Levels in Plasma. J Alzheimers Dis 1:101. doi: 10.4172/2161-0460.1000101

Copyright: © 2011 Westmark CJ. This is an open-access article distributed un der the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Altered levels of amyloid β-protein precursor (AβPP) and/or amyloid beta (Aβ) are characteristic of several neurological disorders including Alzheimer's disease (AD), Down syndrome (DS), Fragile X syndrome (FXS), Parkinson's disease (PD), autism and epilepsy. Thus, these proteins could serve as valuable blood-based biomarkers for assessing disease severity and pharmacological efficacy. We have observed significant differences in Aβ1-42 levels in human plasma dependent on the anticoagulant utilized during blood collection. Our data suggests that anticoagulants alter AβPP processing and that care needs to be used in comparing published studies that have not utilized the same blood collection methodology.