Differences in a dinucleotide repeat polymorphism in the tau gene between Caucasian and Japanese populations: implication for progressive supranuclear palsy.
Previous studies of a tau polymorphism in Caucasian subjects with progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) showed an over-representation of one genotype, A0/A0, versus normal control subjects. This result suggested that tau may be playing a genetic role in the progression of PSP. This study examines whether the over-representation of A0/A0 is Caucasian-specific or universal to PSP. Unfortunately, we found this dinucleotide repeat was relatively non-polymorphic in Japanese subjects. As a result, the genotypes were virtually the same, A0/A0, between Japanese PSP and control subjects. However, this outcome, albeit negative, does suggest two possible roles of the tau gene in PSP pathogenesis: (1) the role of this dinucleotide repeat in PSP may be different between Caucasian and Japanese populations or (2) this repeat may not be causal for PSP but represents a marker for other molecular genetic risk factors within or close to the tau gene on chromosome 17.
Department of Neurosciences, University of California-San Diego School of Medicine, La Jolla, USA.
C
C
Conrad
N
N
Amano
A
A
Andreadis
Y
Y
Xia
K
K
Namekataf
F
F
Oyama
K
K
Ikeda
K
K
Wakabayashi
H
H
Takahashi
L J
LJ
Thal
R
R
Katzman
D A
DA
Shackelford
M
M
Matsushita
E
E
Masliah
A
A
Sawa
D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000235:genetics; D044466:Asian People / Q000235:genetics*; D002886:Chromosomes, Human, Pair 17 / Q000235:genetics; D018900:Dinucleotide Repeats / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic / Q000235:genetics*; D013494:Supranuclear Palsy, Progressive / Q000235:genetics*; D044465:White People / Q000235:genetics*; D016875:tau Proteins / Q000235:genetics*
D016875:tau Proteins