The X-chromosome instability phenotype in Alzheimer's disease: a clinical sign of accelerating aging?

Premature centromere division, or premature centromere separation (PCS), occurs when chromatid separation is dysfunctional, occurring earlier than usual during the interphase stage of mitosis. This phenomenon, seen in Robert's syndrome and various cancers, has also been documented in peripheral as well as neuronal cells of Alzheimer's disease (AD). In the latter instances, fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH), applied to the centromere region of the X-chromosome in interphase nuclei of lymphocytes from peripheral blood in AD patients, demonstrated premature chromosomal separation before mitotic metaphase directly after completion of DNA replication in G(2) phase of the cell cycle. Furthermore, and perhaps unexpectedly given the presumptive post-mitotic status of terminally differentiated neurons, neurons in AD patients also showed significantly increased levels of PCS of the X-chromosome. Taken together with other phenomena such as cell cycle re-activation and ectopic re-expression of cyclins and cyclin dependent proteins, we propose that AD is an oncogenic phenotype leading to accelerated aging of the affected brain.