title: Alpha-2 macroglobulin gene in early- and late-onset Alzheimer disease.
abstract: Alpha-2-macroglobulin (A2M) is a proteinase inhibitor that is present in senile plaques and may play a role in metabolism of amyloid beta (A beta) peptide. Recently it was reported that inheritance of the deletion allele (A2M-2) confers increased risk for late-onset Alzheimer disease (AD) with significance of this effect similar to the epsilon4 allele of apolipoprotein E (APOE). We examined the distribution of A2M genotypes and alleles in a cohort of 146 AD patients and 160 age-matched non-demented individuals. There was no evidence for association in the total sample or in subsets stratified by age or APOE epsilon4 status. These results suggest that this polymorphism is not a strong genetic risk factor for either early- or late-onset forms of the disorder. However, they do not exclude the possibility that an AD susceptibility allele is located elsewhere in A2M or a nearby gene.
authors.affiliation: Mental Health Research Center, Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, Moscow.
authors.forename: G I
authors.initials: GI
authors.lastname: Korovaitseva
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Premkumar
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Grigorenko
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Molyaka
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Galimbet
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Selezneva
authors.forename: S I
authors.initials: SI
authors.lastname: Gavrilova
authors.forename: L A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Farrer
authors.forename: E I
authors.initials: EI
authors.lastname: Rogaev
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D017668:Age of Onset; D000368:Aged; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000235:genetics* / Q000503:physiopathology; D001057:Apolipoproteins E / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015810:Linkage Disequilibrium / Q000235:genetics; D008297:Male; D012737:Sex Factors; D000511:alpha-Macroglobulins / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D001057:Apolipoproteins E; D000511:alpha-Macroglobulins