Genetic Reports Abstracts Exploration of 16 candidate genes identifies the association of IDE with Alzheimer's disease in Han Chinese

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) has a complex pattern of inheritance and many genes have recently been reported to contribute to the disease susceptibility. We selected 106 SNPs within 16 candidate genes and performed a multistage association study using 4 sample sets consisting of 731 AD patients and 738 control subjects to identify genetic factors for AD in Han Chinese. A single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the insulin degrading enzyme gene (IDE), rs3781239, showed a significant association with AD. The C allele increased the risk of AD 1.72-fold than the G allele (odds ratio [OR] 1.72, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.17‐2.53, p 0.006) and CC carriers had a 4.89-fold higher risk for AD than that of the carriers with CG and GG genotypes (odds ratio 4.89, 95% CI 1.85‐12.91, p 0.001). Moreover, the CC genotype was significantly associated with earlier age at onset (p 0.001, hazard ratio [HR] 2.09, 95% CI 1.38‐3.18). Our data suggest that the polymorphism of IDE is associated with susceptibility to Alzheimer’s disease in Han Chinese.