SLC26A4 gene polymorphism and late-onset Alzheimer’s disease in a Han Chinese population from Qingdao,China

In a recent genome-wide association study,the SLC26A4 gene rs2072064 polymorphism was found to be associated with late-onset Alzheimer’s disease in Caucasians.Here,we investigated this association in a large Northern Han Chinese cohort consisting of 599 sporadic late-onset Alzheimer’s disease patients and 598 healthy controls matched for sex and age in a Northern Han Chinese population from Qingdao,China.Genotyping by the polymerase chain reaction-ligase detection reaction revealed that there were significant differences in the genotype (P=0.017) and allele (P=0.007) frequencies of the rs2072064 polymorphism between late-onset Alzheimer’s disease patients and controls.The A allele of this polymorphism was significantly associated with a reduced risk of late-onset Alzheimer’s disease (odds ratio (OR)=0.792,95% confidence interval (CI)=0.670-0.937,P=0.007).When the data were stratified by the apolipoprotein E ε4 status,there was a significant difference only among apolipoprotein E ε4 non-carriers (genotypic P=0.001,allelic P=0.001).Furthermore,the association between rs2072064 and late-onset Alzheimer’s disease remained significant by logistic regression analysis after adjustment for age,gender,and the apolipoprotein E ε4 carrier status (dominant model:OR=0.787,95% CI=0.619-1.000,P=0.050;recessive model:OR=0.655,95% CI=0.448-0.959,P=0.030;additive model:OR=0.792,95% CI=0.661-0.950,P=0.012).These findings suggest that SLC26A4 is a susceptibility gene for late-onset Alzheimer’s disease in a Northern Han Chinese population from the Qingdao area.