University of Louisville
Amyloid Beta Cross-Reactive Potato Virus Y Antibodies in Human Serum
Institution
University of Louisville
Faculty Advisor/ Mentor
Radhika Vaishnav; Ruolan Liu; Robert Friedland
Abstract
Amyloid Beta 1-42 (A Beta) accumulation occurs in the brain in Alzheimer’s Disease (AD), contributing to the process of neurodegeneration. Previous research has shown that the amino acid sequence of Nuclear Inclusion b (NIB) protein of the Potato Virus Y (PVY) is similar to the immunogenic N-terminal region of the A Beta peptide and that antibodies generated against PVY cross-react with A Beta. Due to the abundance of potatoes in our diet, we hypothesized that antibodies against PVY are present in control subjects and AD patients, and that AD patients have a lower titer of serum PVY antibodies due to a consequence of competitive binding to A Beta. Our experimental design was to test for the presence of 1. PVY and 2. PVY-reactive antibodies in human serum obtained from AD and control subjects. We performed an initial immunostrip assay to detect PVY in 5 control and 5 AD serum samples. The PVY immunostrips were unable to detect PVY in any of the samples. This was followed by sandwich ELISA using a capture antibody, PVY infected leaves as an antigen source, and human serum from the same 10 subjects. The ELISA results for all 10 samples were positive, demonstrating the presence of PVY reactive antibodies in all subjects tested, but no significant difference was found between AD patients and healthy subjects. Experiments are currently underway with a larger sample size to assess whether there are statistically significant differences between the two groups. In conclusion, we have demonstrated for the first time that there are anti-PVY antibodies in human serum. Our results may have implications in Alzheimer’s disease etiology, prevention, and management.
Amyloid Beta Cross-Reactive Potato Virus Y Antibodies in Human Serum
Amyloid Beta 1-42 (A Beta) accumulation occurs in the brain in Alzheimer’s Disease (AD), contributing to the process of neurodegeneration. Previous research has shown that the amino acid sequence of Nuclear Inclusion b (NIB) protein of the Potato Virus Y (PVY) is similar to the immunogenic N-terminal region of the A Beta peptide and that antibodies generated against PVY cross-react with A Beta. Due to the abundance of potatoes in our diet, we hypothesized that antibodies against PVY are present in control subjects and AD patients, and that AD patients have a lower titer of serum PVY antibodies due to a consequence of competitive binding to A Beta. Our experimental design was to test for the presence of 1. PVY and 2. PVY-reactive antibodies in human serum obtained from AD and control subjects. We performed an initial immunostrip assay to detect PVY in 5 control and 5 AD serum samples. The PVY immunostrips were unable to detect PVY in any of the samples. This was followed by sandwich ELISA using a capture antibody, PVY infected leaves as an antigen source, and human serum from the same 10 subjects. The ELISA results for all 10 samples were positive, demonstrating the presence of PVY reactive antibodies in all subjects tested, but no significant difference was found between AD patients and healthy subjects. Experiments are currently underway with a larger sample size to assess whether there are statistically significant differences between the two groups. In conclusion, we have demonstrated for the first time that there are anti-PVY antibodies in human serum. Our results may have implications in Alzheimer’s disease etiology, prevention, and management.