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Mutagenesis Advance Access originally published online on August 20, 2007
Mutagenesis 2007 22(6):371-379; doi:10.1093/mutage/gem029
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Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the UK Environmental Mutagen Society.

Buccal micronucleus cytome biomarkers may be associated with Alzheimer's disease

Philip Thomas1,2,*, Jane Hecker3, Jeffrey Faunt4 and Michael Fenech1

1CSIRO Division of Human Nutrition, 13 Kintore Avenue, PO Box 10041 Adelaide BC, Adelaide, SA 5000, Australia 2Discipline of Physiology, School of Molecular and Biomedical Sciences, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia 3Department of Internal Medicine, Royal Adelaide Hospital, North Terrace, Adelaide, 5000 4Royal Adelaide Hospital, Adelaide, Australia

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive degenerative disorder of the brain and is the commonest form of dementia. A buccal cytome assay was used to measure ratios of buccal cell populations and micronuclei in clinically diagnosed Alzheimer's patients compared to age and gender-matched controls. Frequencies of basal cells (P < 0.0001), condensed chromatin cells (P < 0.0001) and karyorrhectic cells (P < 0.0001) were found to be significantly lower in Alzheimer's patients. These changes may reflect alterations in the cellular kinetics or structural profile of the buccal mucosa, and may be useful as potential biomarkers in identifying individuals with a high risk of developing AD. The odds ratio of being diagnosed with AD for those individuals with a basal cell plus karyorrhectic cell frequency <41 per 1000 cells is 140, with a specificity of 97% and sensitivity of 82%. These promising results need to be replicated in larger studies and in cohorts of other neurodegenerative disorders to determine specificity of changes to Alzheimer's patients.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. Tel: +08 83038897; Fax: +08 83038899; Email: philip.thomas{at}csiro.au

Received on May 16, 2007; revised on June 26, 2007; accepted on July 6, 2007.


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