Mayo Clinic Laboratory and Pathology Research Roundup: Feb. 25

By Alyssa Frank • February 25, 2019

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The Research Roundup provides an overview of the past week’s research from Mayo Clinic Laboratories consultants, including featured abstracts and a complete list of published studies and reviews.

Featured Abstract

Selective loss of cortical endothelial tight junction proteins during Alzheimer's disease progression

While the accumulation and aggregation of amyloid-β and tau are central events in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease, there is increasing evidence that cerebrovascular pathology is also abundant in Alzheimer's disease brains. In brain capillaries, endothelial cells are connected closely with one another through transmembrane tight junction proteins forming the blood-brain barrier. Because the blood-brain barrier tightly regulates the exchange of molecules between brain and blood and maintains brain homeostasis, its impairment is increasingly recognized as a critical factor contributing to Alzheimer's disease pathogenesis. However, the pathological relationship between blood-brain barrier properties and Alzheimer's disease progression in the human brain is not fully understood. In this study, we show that the loss of cortical tight junction proteins is a common event in Alzheimer's disease and is correlated with synaptic degeneration. By quantifying the amounts of major tight junction proteins, claudin-5 and occludin, in 12 brain regions dissected from post-mortem brains of normal ageing (n = 10), pathological ageing (n = 14), and Alzheimer's disease patients (n = 19), we found that they were selectively decreased in cortical areas in Alzheimer's disease.

Published to PubMed This Week

• • • • • Renal Biopsy Findings in Patients with Extreme Obesity: More Heterogeneous Than You Think
          Kidney International
          
        • Hyperhaploid Plasma Cell Myeloma Characterized by Poor Outcome and Monosomy 17 with Frequently Co-occurring PT53 Mutations
          Blood Cancer Journal
          
        • Modelling Graft Loss in Patients with Donor-Specific Antibody at Baseline Using the Birmingham-Mayo (BirMay) Predictor: Implications for Clinical Trials
          American Journal of Transplantation
        • Monoclonal Gammopathy Plus Positive Amyloid Biopsy Does Not Always Equal AL Amyloidosis
          American Journal of Hematology
          
        • The Influence of Tau, Amyloid, Alpha-Synuclein, TDP-43, and Vascular Pathology in Clinically Normal Elderly Individuals
          Neurobiology of Aging
          
        • Utilization and Outcomes of Fertility Preservation Techniques in Women Undergoing Allogenenic Hematopoietic Cell Transplant
          Biology of Blood and Marrow Transplantation
          
        • RNA Sequencing Identifies a Novel USP9X-USP6 Promoter Swap Gene Fusion in a Primary Aneurysmal Bone Cyst
          Genes Chromosomes Cancer
        • Relationship between Asthma Status and Antibody Response Patter to 23-Valent Pneumococcal Vaccination
          Journal of Asthma
          
        • Effect of Lidocaine on Viability and Gene Expression of Human Adipose Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells: An In Vitro Study
          PM & R
          
        • Knowledge Gaps in the Appendix: A Multi-Institutional Study from Seven Academic Centers
          Modern Pathology
        • Substratification of Patients with Newly Diagnosed Standard-Risk Multiple Myeloma
          British Journal of Haematology
          

Alyssa Frank

Alyssa Frank is a Marketing Segment Manager at Mayo Clinic Laboratories. She leads marketing strategies for product management and specialty testing. Alyssa has worked at Mayo Clinic since 2015.