TRANSFERRIN C2, METAL-BINDING AND ALZHEIMERS-DISEASE

SIGNIFICANT associations between the transferrin (TF) variant C2 and a number of disorders suspected to be caused by oxygen free radicals ha ve been reported. Thus an increased frequency of the TFC2 variant has been found in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD), and it has been hypothesized that AD is caused by free radical damage due to defective binding of iron and aluminium by TFC2. In a study of 64 patients with AD from northern Sweden we were able to confirm the association betwe en TFC2 and AD, but there were no significant differences between TFC2 and other TF variants with respect to the binding of iron and alumini um.