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Although several genes have been implicated in the development of the early-onset autosomal dominant form of Alzheimer's disease (AD), the genetics of late-onset AD (LOAD) is complex. Loci on several chromosomes have been linked to the disease, but so far only the apolipoprotein E gene has been consistently shown to be a risk factor. We have performed a large-scale single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)-based association study, across the region of linkage on chromosome 12, in multiple case-control series totaling 1,089 LOAD patients and 1,196 control subjects and report association with SNPs in the glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPD) gene. Subsequent analysis of GAPD paralogs on other chromosomes demonstrated association with two other paralogs. A significant association between LOAD and a compound genotype of the three GAPD genes was observed in all three sample sets. Individually, these SNPs make differential contributions to disease risk in each of the casecontrol series, suggesting that variants in functionally similar genes may account for series-to-series heterogeneity of disease risk. Our observations raise the possibility that GAPD genes are AD risk factors, a hypothesis that is consistent with the role of GAPD in neuronal apoptosis.

Original publication

DOI

10.1073/pnas.0403535101

Type

Journal article

Journal

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A

Publication Date

02/11/2004

Volume

101

Pages

15688 - 15693

Keywords

Age of Onset, Aged, Alleles, Alzheimer Disease, Apolipoprotein E4, Apolipoproteins E, Apoptosis, Brain, Case-Control Studies, Chromosomes, Human, Pair 12, Gene Expression, Gene Frequency, Genetic Variation, Genotype, Glyceraldehyde-3-Phosphate Dehydrogenases, Humans, Middle Aged, Multigene Family, Nerve Degeneration, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Risk Factors