Science
Rongzhen Zhang, Robert G. Miller, Ron Gascon, Stacey Champion, Jonathan Katz, Mariselle Lancero, Amy Narvaez, Ronald Honrada, David Ruvalcaba, Michael S. McGrath
The present study reports elevated levels of endotoxin/lipopolysaccharide (LPS) concentrations in plasma from patients with sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (sALS) and Alzheimer’s (AD) as compared to healthy controls. Levels of plasma LPS showed a significant positive correlation with degree of blood monocyte/macrophage activation in disease groups and was most elevated in patients with advanced sALS disease. There was a significant negative relationship between plasma LPS and levels of monocyte/ macrophage IL-10 expression in sALS blood. These data suggest that systemic LPS levels and activated monocyte/macrophages may play significant roles in the pathogenesis of sALS.