Association of α2-macroglobulin polymorphisms and Alzheimer disease in Mainland Han Chinese

Chen, Deng; Zhang, Jun-Wu; Zhang, Zhen-Xin; Wu, Ya-Ning; Qu, Qiu-Ming

doi:10.1016/j.jns.2003.08.002

« Previous Next »Journal of the Neurological Sciences
Volume 217, Issue 1 , Pages 13-15, 15 January 2004

Association of α2-macroglobulin polymorphisms and Alzheimer disease in Mainland Han Chinese

Deng Chen
- National Laboratory of Medical Molecular Biology, Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, The Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and The Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100005, People's Republic of China
Jun-Wu Zhang
- Corresponding author. Tel.: +86-10-65296423; fax: +86-10-65240529.
- National Laboratory of Medical Molecular Biology, Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, The Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and The Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100005, People's Republic of China
Zhen-Xin Zhang
- Department of Neurology, The Peking Union Hospital, The Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and The Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, People's Republic of China
Ya-Ning Wu
- National Laboratory of Medical Molecular Biology, Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, The Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and The Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100005, People's Republic of China
Qiu-Ming Qu
- Department of Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital, Xi'an Medical University, Shaanxi Province, People's Republic of China

Received 15 April 2003; received in revised form 1 August 2003; accepted 4 August 2003.

Abstract

This study used case-control method to investigate roles of two α2-macroglobulin (A2M) polymorphisms, a 5-bp insertion/deletion (A2M-I/D) and an A→G substitution (A2M-A/G), in the development of sporadic Alzheimer disease (AD) in Mainland Han Chinese. Our results showed a trend of lower D-carrying genotype frequency in APOE-ε4 carrying AD patients than in corresponding control subjects (χ²=3.67, p=0.055). The ID/AA genotype frequency was lower in AD patients comparing with controls (χ²=4.04, p=0.044). In AD patients, the G-carrying genotype frequency was significantly higher in APOE-ε4 carrier subgroup than in APOE-ε4 non-carriers (χ²=7.38, OR=2.99, 95% CI: 1.33–6.71, p=0.007). These results indicated that A2M-D allele was probably a weak AD protective factor, and there was a possible interaction of APOE-ε4 and A2M-G alleles to increase AD risk in Mainland Han Chinese.