Lack of association of neprilysin gene polymorphisms with Alzheimer's disease in a southern Chinese community.
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.
Fu
Yan
Y
Guangzhou Psychiatric Hospital, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China. Fuyan_1111@163.com
Li
Ai Feng
AF
Shi
Jia Jun
JJ
Tang
Mou Ni
MN
Guo
Yang Bo
YB
Zhao
Zhen Huan
ZH
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
D053327:Apolipoprotein E4; D015260:Neprilysin