Association between butyrylcholinesterase K variant and mild cognitive impairment in the Thai community-dwelling patients

OBJECTIVE To study the association of the butyrylcholinesterase K variant (BChE-K) and the plasma BChE activity with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in Thai community-dwelling patients. METHODS One hundred patients diagnosed with MCI and 100 control subjects were recruited from the community-dwelling setting in Bangkok, Thailand. The genotype and allele distributions of the BChE-K were determined by polymerase chain reaction and subsequent DNA sequencing. The BChE activity was measured in plasma according to the Ellman's method. RESULTS The BChE-K allele frequencies in the Thai community-dwelling patients were in accordance with other ethnics. The BChE-K allele frequency in the control subjects (12%) was higher than that of MCI patients (5.5%), suggesting a protective role of BChE-K for MCI in the Thai community-dwelling patients. The BChE-K homozygotes were significantly associated with lower BChE activity. CONCLUSION Our results suggested that the BChE-K may be implicated as a protective factor for MCI in the Thai community-dwelling patients, although a further study with a large sample size is warranted to confirm this.