Altered Glucose Metabolism in Fibroblasts from Patients with Alzheimer's Disease

To the Editor: Studies over the past decade have made major advances in defining the brain cells that are vulnerable in Alzheimer's disease^1,2 but not the mechanisms producing cell loss. The major identified risk factor is genetic.^3,4 Reports of molecular or cellular abnormalities in nonneural tissues, including cultured cells, raise the possibility that other tissues may express genetically determined alterations, which are clinically important only in the brain.⁵ (A number of inborn errors provide precedents.) Because of reports of abnormalities in glucose utilization in the brain in Alzheimer's disease,⁶ we compared lactate production and the oxidation of [U-¹⁴C]glucose.