title: Lack of association of neprilysin gene polymorphisms with Alzheimer's disease in a southern Chinese community.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Increasing evidence suggests that neprilysin (NEP) may be the major degrading enzyme of amyloid beta (Abeta) in the brain and the NEP gene has been proposed as a candidate gene for Alzheimer's disease (AD). Association results between the NEP gene and AD are still preliminary. This study investigates the effect of the polymorphisms of -204G/C and 159C/T in the NEP gene on the development of sporadic Alzheimer's disease (SAD) in a southern Chinese community.
  
  
  METHODS
  236 sporadic late-onset AD patients were recruited from Guangzhou Psychiatric Hospital in southern China, and 332 healthy elderly controls were enrolled from three old age homes in suburban Guangzhou. NEP and ApoE genotype were determined by PCR-RFLP.
  
  
  RESULTS
  No differences in genotypic and allelic frequencies of -204G/C and 159C/T polymorphisms in NEP were found between AD and control group (for -204G/C genotype: chi2 = 2.34, P > 0.05; for allele: chi2 = 2.31, P > 0.05; for 159C/T genotype: chi2 = 1.34, P > 0.05; for allele: chi2 = 0.88, P > 0.05). Neither was any difference found in genotypic and allelic frequency when stratified by sex or by ApoE epsilon4 allele (P > 0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results suggest that -204G/C and 159C/T polymorphisms of the NEP gene may not be associated with SAD. Moreover, both sex and ApoE epsilon4 allele do not affect the distribution of NEP gene polymorphisms.
authors.affiliation: Guangzhou Psychiatric Hospital, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China. Fuyan_1111@163.com
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Fu
authors.forename: Ai Feng
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Jia Jun
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.forename: Mou Ni
authors.initials: MN
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: Yang Bo
authors.initials: YB
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: Zhen Huan
authors.initials: ZH
authors.lastname: Zhao
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000483:Alleles; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000208:ethnology / Q000235:genetics*; D053327:Apolipoprotein E4 / Q000235:genetics; D002681:China; D005260:Female; D005787:Gene Frequency / Q000235:genetics; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015260:Neprilysin / Q000235:genetics*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic / Q000235:genetics*; D012150:Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D053327:Apolipoprotein E4; D015260:Neprilysin