Blood transferrin and ferritin in Alzheimer's disease

In the present study we found a significant correlation between severity of dementia of Alzheimer's type (DAT) and both transferrin and ferritin serum levels. Levels of transferrin in serum of 41 DAT patients tended to be lower than those of 19 age-matched controls, while levels of ferritin were not significantly different in DAT patients compared to controls. These results are interpreted in line with previous findings of higher brain ferritin and lower brain transferrin levels in DAT and are a circumstantial support for the oxygen radical hypothesis of degenerative brain disease.