title: The peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPAR-gamma2) Pro12Ala polymorphism is associated with higher risk for Alzheimer's disease in octogenarians.
abstract: Recent observations support the hypothesis that inflammatory processes at the brain level may contribute to the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPAR-gamma) is involved in such processes, so we thought it interesting to study the Pro12Ala polymorphism in exon 2 of the gene in a sample of late-onset AD patients. We found that Ala genotypes were significantly overrepresented among octogenarian patients compared to controls (p=0.034). Using logistic regression we observed that carrying the Ala allele significantly increased by nearly two-fold the risk of developing AD in subjects 80 years or older (OR=1.98; 95% CI 1.03-3.80, p=0.04). Though this difference was borderline significant after correction for multiple comparisons, our results suggest a possible involvement of the PPAR-gamma gene in susceptibility to late-onset AD in octogenarians.
authors.affiliation: CNR Institute of Molecular Biology and Pathology, c/o Department of Genetics and Molecular Biology, University, La Sapienza, Rome, P.le Aldo Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy. Renato.Scacchi@uniroma1.it
authors.forename: Renato
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Scacchi
authors.forename: Alessandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pinto
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gambina
authors.forename: Aldo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rosano
authors.forename: Rosa Maria
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Corbo
mesh_terms: D017668:Age of Onset; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000235:genetics*; D053327:Apolipoprotein E4 / Q000235:genetics*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D005787:Gene Frequency; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D016017:Odds Ratio; D047495:PPAR gamma / Q000235:genetics*; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D012016:Reference Values; D012307:Risk Factors
chemical_list: D053327:Apolipoprotein E4; D047495:PPAR gamma