Lykhmus O. Antibodies against the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor and their relation to Alzheimer's disease

Object- antibodies against the extracellular domains a7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR). Aim: to study the ability of antibodies against a7 nAChR influence the content and function of the receptor in cells of various tissues of mice and the presence of such antibodies in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). Methods: preparative biochemistry, immunechemistry, cytometry, morphological analysis, autoradiography.These antibodies were able to bind the native nAChRs, to decrease their density on cells and favored the B lymphocyte survival, reticular tissue overgrowth, neutrophil attraction, and inhibited the gain of body weight. It is experimentally proved that nAChR-specific antibodies penetrate the brain upon inflammation and decrease the number of a7 nAChRs primarily in the neurons of striatum. Such a decrease of cognitively important nAChR subtypes provokes the impairment of episodic memory in mice immunized with a7. nAChR-specific autoantibodies are present in the blood of people of different age with and without AD. The level of antibodies in the human blood depends on the frequency of respiratory diseases and individual immunoreactivity. The increased level of a7-specific antibodies is characteristic for the early beginning of AD and may be one of the risk factors for its development. Fundamental data on the effects of specific antibodies on the expression and functions of a7 nAChRs in the brain suggest a new mechanism of the cholinergic deficit initiation upon early AD and create a basis for the new approaches to its diagnostics and treatment. Sphere - organization of medical and biological profile.