Proteomic and Biological Profiling of Extracellular Vesicles from Alzheimer’s Disease Human Brain Tissues

IntroductionExtracellular vesicles (EVs) from human Alzheimers disease (AD) biospecimens contain amyloid-{beta} peptide (A{beta}) and tau. While AD EVs are known to affect brain disease pathobiology, their biochemical and molecular characterizations remain ill defined.\n\nMethodsEVs were isolated from the cortical grey matter of 20 AD and 18 control brains. Tau and A{beta} levels were measured by immunoassay. Differentially expressed EV proteins were assessed by quantitative proteomics and machine learning.\n\nResultsLevels of pS396 tau and A{beta} were significantly elevated in AD EVs. High levels of neuron- and glia- specific factors are detected in control and AD EVs, respectively. Machine learning identified ANXA5, VGF, GPM6A and ACTZ in AD EV compared to controls. They distinguished AD EVs from controls in the test sets with 88% accuracy.\n\nDiscussionIn addition to A{beta} and tau, ANXA5, VGF, GPM6A and ACTZ are new signature proteins in AD EVs.