Altered phosphofructokinase mRNA levels but unchanged isoenzyme pattern in brains from patients with Alzheimer's disease.

In order to find out whether the increased phosphofructokinase (PFK) activities observed in brains from Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients are associated with alterations in PFK mRNA levels, we determined total PFK mRNA and the three different PFK isoenzyme mRNAs in AD and control patients by ribonuclease protection assay (RPA) and quantitative RT-PCR. PFK mRNA levels were found increased in some brain areas in AD patients. While all three PFK isoenzyme mRNAs were detectable in every studied brain sample, no changes of the PFK isoenzyme pattern were observed in patients with AD.