Genetic variants in FADS1 and ELOVL2 increase level of arachidonic acid and the risk of Alzheimer's disease in the Tunisian population

Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) are closely related to various physiological conditions. In several age -re-lated diseases including Alzheimer's disease (AD) altered PUFAs metabolism has been reported. However, the mechanism behind PUFAs impairment and AD developpement remains unclear. In humans, PUFAs biosynthesis requires delta-5 desaturase (D5D), delta-6 desaturase (D6D) and elongase 2 activities; which are encoded by fatty acid desaturase 1 (FADS1), fatty acid desaturase 2 (FADS2), and elongation of very-long-chain fatty acids -like 2 (ELOVL2) genes, respectively. In the present work, we aim to assess whether genetic variants in FADS1, FADS2 and ELOVL2 genes influence plasma and erythrocyte PUFA composition and AD risk. A case-control study was carried out in 113 AD patients and 161 healthy controls.Rs174556, rs174617, and rs3756963 of FADS1, FADS2, and ELOVL2 genes, respectively were genotyped using PCR-RFLP. PUFA levels were quantified using Gas Chromatography. Genotype distributions of rs174556 (FADS1) and rs3756963 (ELOVL2) were different between case and control groups. The genotype TT of rs174556 and rs3756963 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) increases significantly the risk of AD in our population. PUFA analysis showed higher plasma and erythrocyte arachidonic acid (AA) level in patients with AD, whereas only plasma docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) was sig-nificantly decreased in AD patients. The indexes AA/Dihomo-gamma-linolenic acid (DGLA) and C24:4n-6/ Adrenic acid (AdA) were both higher in the AD group. Interestingly, patients with TT genotype of rs174556 presented higher AA level and AA/DGLA index in both plasma and erythrocyte. In addition, higher AA and AA/ DGLA index were observed in erythrocyte of TT genotype ofrs3756963 carrier's patients. Along with, positive correlation between AA/DGLA index, age or Gamma-linolenic acid (GLA)/ Linoleic acid (LA) index was seen in erythrocyte and /or plasma of AD patients. After adjustment for confounding factors, the genotype TT of rs174556, erythrocyte AA and AA/DGLA index were found to be predictive risk factors for AD while plasma DHA was found associated with lower AD risk. Both rs174556 and rs3756963 influence AD risk in the Tunisian population and they are likely associated with high AA level. The combination of the two variants increases further the susceptibility to AD. We suggest that FADS1 and ELOVL2 variants could likely regulate the efficiency of AA biosynthesis which could be at the origin of inflammatory derivate.