Study candidate genetic markers late-onset Alzheimer’s

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An estimated 4.5 million Americans suffer from Alzheimer’s disease and that number is expected to grow to as many as 16 million by 2050 5. Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of dementia among the elderly, is a complex neurodegenerative disorder resulting from multiple genetic and non-genetic factors 6 . The most common form occurs later in life and appears sporadically. However, several risk-factor genes have been implicated as causes of the disease. For example, a well established genetic risk factor for the late-onset disease is a gene that makes one form of a protein called apolipoprotein E (APOE 4). A large body of evidence also supports a central role for β-amyloid, although genetic variants that alter the generation of β-amyloid have only been found in patients with a familial, early onset of the disease. Genetic modeling and whole genome linkage scans have implicated several genes in the genetics of sporadic Alzheimer’s, but the precise genes which modulate the risk of Alzheimer’s remain to be confirmed.
National direct and indirect annual costs of caring for individuals with Alzheimer’s are estimated to be at least $100 billion. It is estimated that Alzheimer’s disease costs American business more than $61 billion a year, and of that figure, $24.6 billion covers Alzheimer health care and $36.5 billion covers costs related to caregivers of individuals with Alzheimer’s, including lost productivity, absenteeism and worker replacement 7.

Celera (NYSE:CRA), an Applera Corporation business, today announced the publication of data from its research studies identifying several candidate genetic markers associated with late-onset Alzheimer’s disease (LOAD), including markers in multiple genes that have never been associated with LOAD. Two of these genes are PCK1, a gene that regulates blood glucose levels, and GALP, a gene that is modulated by insulin and regulates blood glucose levels, and GALP, a gene that is modulated by insulin and regulates food intake, suggesting a link between Alzheimer’s disease and irregular glucose/insulin levels.
This is the first report of a genome-wide association study in LOAD focused on testing genetic variants that are likely to change the function of a gene or protein. There were 19 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that showed significant association with LOAD in an analysis of five independent case control sample sets, totaling 1,808 cases and 2,062 controls. Three of the identified markers were located close to the APOE gene, a known risk factor for LOAD. An additional 16 markers mapped to biological candidate genes, such as PCK1 and GALP, to chromosome segments that are considered to harbor genetic mutations that lead to a higher risk for LOAD, or to novel genes.