The Bridging Integrator 1 Gene Polymorphism rs744373 and the Risk of Alzheimer’s Disease in Caucasian and Asian Populations: An Updated Meta-Analysis

Recent genome-wide association studies have identified an association between the bridging integrator 1 gene (BIN1) rs744373 polymorphism and late-onset Alzheimer’s disease (LOAD) in individuals of European ancestry. Additionally, a number of studies have focused on the association between rs744373 and Alzheimer’s disease in Caucasian and East Asian populations. However, these results remain inconclusive because of the relatively small sample sizes investigated. Here, we reevaluated this association using samples from seven articles including 22 independent studies comprising 11,832 LOAD patients and 18,133 controls identified by searching PubMed, MEDLINE, and AlzGene databases up to December 2015. We observed no significant heterogeneity between Asian and Caucasian populations. Additive, dominant, and recessive models revealed a significant association between rs744373 and LOAD in the pooled population, while subgroup analysis also identified significant findings in the East Asian population under the additive model (odds ratio (OR) = 1.10, 95 % confidence interval (CI) 1.02–1.19, P = 0.01) and dominant model (OR = 1.13, 95 % CI 1.03–1.25, P = 0.01), but not under the recessive model. The current meta-analysis further supports previous findings that the rs744373 polymorphism may be associated with LOAD risk in Caucasian and Asian populations. To our knowledge, this is the first large meta-analysis to investigate the association between the rs744373 polymorphism and LOAD in East Asian, American, and European populations.