Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common cause of dementia of late life. The aim of this study was to utilize the proteomic approaches to establish serum protein patterns of AD. By using nano-high-performance liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry followed by peptide fragmentation pattern software to analyze proteome in human serum, the activity-dependent neuroprotector homeobox protein was found to exhibit significant differential expression compared with the control group and was confirmed by Western blotting and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. It may play an important role in slowing the progression of clinical symptoms of AD.