Analysis on association between the polymorphisms in apolipoprotein E, interleukin-1 alpha genes and Alzheimer's disease in Chengdu area / 中华医学遗传学杂志

ABSTRACT

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the correlation between the polymorphisms of apolipoprotein E(APOE), the interleukin-1 alpha (IL-1 alpha ) genes and the susceptibility to Alzheimer's disease(AD).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Association study was performed in 114 AD patients and 113 healthy elderly individuals from Chengdu, China. Polymorphisms of APOE and IL-1 alpha genes were analyzed with polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The frequency of APOE-epsilon 4-carrying genotype in moderate to severe AD patients (28.6%) was higher than that of mild patients (18.5%) and the controls (14.2%), and the difference between moderate to severe AD group and the control group was significant (OR=2.4, 95%CI 1.1-5.5). The frequency of epsilon 4 was also of significant difference between the group of moderate to severe dementia and the control group (OR=2.6, 95%CI 1.3-5.3). However, no significant difference in distribution of IL-1 alpha polymorphism between AD patients and controls was observed.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The APOE epsilon 4 allele was associated with moderate to severe AD while no association between the IL-1 alpha gene polymorphism and AD was found.</p>