Genetic Analysis of Genes Involved in Amyloid-β Degradation and Clearance in Alzheimer's Disease

Accumulation of amyloid beta-peptide (A beta) in the brain of Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients has been postulated to reflect defects in A beta degradation or clearance. Here, we selected 12 genes (MMEL1, ECE1, ECE2, AGER, PLG, PLAT, NR1H3, MMP3, LRP1, TTR, NR1H2, and MMP9) involved in A beta catabolism on the basis of PubMed-based literature search and elucidated their genetic role in AD among Finnish case-control cohort consisting of total similar to 1,300 AD patients and control subjects. Thirty one single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were selected for genotyping. In a smaller subset of AD patients, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) levels of A beta(42) (n = 124), total-tau (n = 59), and phospho-tau (n = 54) analyses were performed with respect to SNPs. Moreover, age of onset analyses with respect to the studied SNPs were conducted among the AD patient cohort (n = 642). Association analysis of the liver X receptor alpha (NR1H3) gene SNPs showed a protective effect for C allele carriers of rs7120118 (OR = 0.70, 95% CI 0.53-0.93), while the total-tau and phospho-tau levels in CSF were decreased in AD patients carrying the C allele. Also, a decrease in the age of onset was observed in AD patients carrying the A allele of rs723744 and the C allele of rs3794884 in transthyretin (TTR) gene. However, after adjusting the p-values for multiple comparisons, these results were not statistically significant, suggesting that genetic variations in MMEL1, ECE1, ECE2, AGER, PLG, PLAT, NR1H3, MMP3, LRP1, TTR, NR1H2, and MMP9 genes do not play major role among the Finnish AD patient cohort.