Meta-analysis of the association of the cathepsin D Ala224Val gene polymorphism with the risk of Alzheimer's disease: A HuGE gene-disease association review

A C-to-T polymorphism in exon 2 of the cathepsin D gene encoding cathepsin D (CTSD) has been implicated as a risk factor for Alzheimer's disease. The authors performed a meta-analysis of 14 studies (16 comparisons) with CTSD genotyping (3,174 Alzheimer's disease cases and 3,298 controls). Overall, the random effects odds ratio for the T versus the C allele was 1.17 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.95, 1.44), with some between-study heterogeneity (p < 0.01). There was significant between-study heterogeneity but no evidence of a significant association when the first hypothesis-generating study was excluded from the calculations (odds ratio (OR) = 1.11, 95% CI: 0.91, 1.35; p = 0.29). The summary odds ratio for T carriers versus T noncarriers was similar in subjects carrying or not carrying an apolipoprotein E epsilon4 allele (APOE*4). The increased susceptibility to Alzheimer's disease conferred by APOE*4 carriage tended to be more prominent in the presence of the T allele (random effects OR = 6.07, 95% CI: 4.19, 8.79, and OR = 4.09, 95% CI: 3.15, 5.31, in T carriers and noncarriers, respectively). The meta-analysis shows that the CTSD polymorphism is not a major risk factor for Alzheimer's disease, although a small effect or an enhancement of the APOE*4 effect cannot be excluded.