This paper shows that immunostaining for CCR1 is increased in AD brains and tends to increase as the clinical stage of dementia is more severe. The staining appears to be relatively specific for brains that have Aβ deposition. This marker, if it can be measured in a biological fluid, would be interesting to assess to determine if similar changes can be detected in living individuals. This has not yet been studied.

One point the authors make is that CCR1 increases as dementia increases, and that more CCR1 staining is present as Aβ40 staining in the brain increases. Further, they state that Aβ40 staining is only seen much in clinical dementia rating (CDR) 2 brains and greater.

I wonder whether the Aβ40 antibody and conditions being used are very sensitive That is because it has previously been found that Aβ40 accumulates as neuritic plaques and CAA accumulate, and is present with lots of plaques at all stages of AD, even preclinical AD, at CDR0.5 and CDR1.

View all comments by David Holtzman

I agree with thinking this is a fascinating study specially due to the knowledgment it provides about AD physiopathology and putative treatments, but I don´t think this is a useful test for the daily clinical management of patients with possible AD because it´s very invasive. I´m very interested in CSF biomarkers and I think that beta amyloid and phosphotau could be a interesting test to be used in diagnosis of patients with MCI

View all comments by Manuel Menendez