Absence of association between codon 129 and 219 polymorphisms of the prion protein gene and vascular dementia.
BACKGROUND
Polymorphisms of the prion protein gene (PRNP) are known to cause a strong susceptibility to the occurrence of prion diseases, such as Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, and might be associated with other neurodegenerative disorders. However, an association between PRNP polymorphisms and vascular dementia (VaD) has not been reported thus far.


OBJECTIVE
To investigate whether the PRNP polymorphisms are associated with an increased risk for developing VaD in the Korean population.


METHODS
We compared the genotype, allele and haplotype frequencies of PRNP polymorphisms in 160 VaD patients with those in 236 healthy Koreans.


CONCLUSIONS
Codon 129 (M129V) and 219 (Q219K) polymorphisms in Korean VaD patients were found in the open reading frame of PRNP. Our study shows that there is no significant difference in the genotype, allele and haplotype frequencies of PRNP codon 129 and 219 polymorphisms between Korean VaD patients and normal controls. This was the first genetic association study of the polymorphisms of PRNP with VaD.
Jeong
Byung-Hoon
BH
Ilsong Institute of Life Science, Hallym University, Anyang, South Korea.
Na
Hae-Ri
HR
Bae
Jae-Chun
JC
Lee
Kyung-Hee
KH
Lee
Yun-Jung
YJ
Kim
Nam-Ho
NH
Song
Joon-Ho
JH
Carp
Richard I
RI
Kim
Yong-Sun
YS
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000483:Alleles; D003062:Codon / Q000235:genetics*; D015140:Dementia, Vascular / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D005787:Gene Frequency / Q000235:genetics; D005838:Genotype; D006239:Haplotypes; D006801:Humans; D007723:Korea; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016366:Open Reading Frames; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic / Q000235:genetics*; D000072002:Prion Proteins; D011328:Prions / Q000235:genetics*; D012307:Risk Factors; D013223:Statistics as Topic
D003062:Codon; C512656:PRNP protein, human; D000072002:Prion Proteins; D011328:Prions