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.