Background: People with Down's syndrome (DS) show early Alzheimer-like dementia. It has been suggested that the pro-inflammatory cytokine class plays a role in Alzheimer's disease (AD). The study aims at verifying whether pro-inflammatory cytokines in DS are correlated with age, affective symptoms and intellectual decline to a different degree than in subjects with non-DS learning disabilities.
Cases: 19 subjects with DS; controls: sex- and age-matched individuals with learning disabilities caused by perinatal ischaemic damage. The level of mental retardation was assessed according to DSM-IV; psychopathological symptoms were measured by the Assessment and Information Rating Profile. Serum levels of cytokines were determined with ELISA.
Results: DS patients showed higher levels of cytokines and chemokines, with the exception of RANTES; but the only significant difference detected was for MIP-1alpha. A correlation between the degree of mental retardation and IL-6, and between MIP-lalpha and age was found in patients with DS, but not in controls.
Conclusions: The data obtained suggest a possible involvement of chemokines in the inflammatory and degenerative processes similar to AD in DS. Further longitudinal research is required to confirm these findings.
Copyright 2002 S. Karger AG, Basel