Dementia-associated changes of immune cell composition within the cerebrospinal fluid

Inflammation and alterations in essential protein structures in the brain might also change the cellular distribution in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). Using flow cytometry, we analyzed cell populations of the innate and adaptive immune system associated with the most frequent forms of dementias. We included patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI; N ​= ​33), Alzheimer’s disease (AD; N ​= ​90), vascular dementia (VD; N ​= ​35) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD; N ​= ​17) at the time of diagnosis, before onset of treatment and 11 elderly non-demented individuals. Dependent on the form of dementia, an increased frequency of CD14(+) monocytes, NK cells and NKT cells was measured. Within the T cell population, a dementia-associated shift from central memory towards (late-stage) effector cells was detected. T cells and NKT cells were correlated with MMSE, NK and NKT cells were correlated with ptau, CD14(+) monocytes and NK cells were correlated with Amyloid-β 1–40. Our data suggest that each investigated immune cell type is involved in dementia-associated alterations within the CSF, possibly having distinct functions in their pathogenesis.