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Recent evidence suggests changes in circulating microRNA levels may be promising biomarkers for the clinical diagnosis of Alzheimer disease (AD). We hypothesized that whole-blood microRNAs may be useful to identify individuals with established AD. For this purpose, a sample of community-dwelling women (≥55 years old) carrying the ApoE ∊4 allele were clinically evaluated using the American Psychiatric Association/ Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth edition and the Alzheimer Disease Assessment Scale–Cognitive Subscale criteria to diagnose probable AD, and the Clinical Dementia Rating scale to stage the dementia. A set of 25 mature microRNAs was rationally selected for evaluation based on experimental evidence of interaction with genes linked to the late-onset AD neuropathology. Whole-blood concentrations were determined by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. Compared to patients without dementia, a median 3-fold decrease in miR-9 levels was found among patients with AD ( P = .001). Our findings support blood-borne miR-9 as a candidate biomarker for probable AD, embodied by evidence from the literature of its implication in amyloidogenesis.

OBJECTIVES:The number of deaths from vascular diseases is incredibly high worldwide, and reliable markers for major events are still needed. The current cross-sectional study investigated the association of Klotho haplotypes and Klotho serum levels with classic risk factors and a clinical history of vascular events.METHODS:Clinical, anthropometric, biochemical and nutritional assessments were conducted with 168 older adults, complemented by genotyping (rs9536314 and rs9527025) and the detection of serum Klotho (ELISA).RESULTS:Klotho levels and haplotypes did not associate with most classic risk factors for vascular events, including markers such as C-reactive protein and homocysteine. A positive association was only found between Klotho levels and the previous occurrence of a myocardial infarction by both correlational (p=0.006) and variance analyses (p<0.001), and these associations were independent of the context.CONCLUSION:Our results suggest that serum Klotho is higher in individuals with a clinical history of myocardial infarction but not with a history of coronary artery disease or stroke. None of the Klotho haplotypes were associated with the variables investigated herein.