Altered Expression of RNA Splicing Proteins in Alzheimer's Disease Patients: Evidence from Two Microarray Studies

Abstract

Background/Aims: Dysregulation of pre-mRNA splicing from an altered expression of RNA splice-regulatory proteins may act as the convergence point underlying aberrant gene expression changes in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Methods: Two microarray datasets from a control/AD postmortem brain cohort of 31 subjects - 9 controls and 22 AD subjects (National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database) - were used. Results: Between the two microarray studies, the expression of six splice-regulatory protein genes showed concordant changes in AD. These genes were then correlated with gene expression changes of transcripts reported to be altered in AD. Amyloid beta (A4) precursor protein and tropomyosin receptor kinase B transcripts were found to correlate significantly with the same splice-regulatory proteins in the two studies. Conclusion: This study highlights a susceptibility network that can potentially link a number of susceptibility genes.