Pola Roberto, Flex Andrea, Gaetani Eleonora, Santoliquido Angelo, Serricchio Michele, Pola Paolo, Bernabei Roberto
Laboratory of Vascular Biology and Genetics, Istituto di Patologia Speciale Medica, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, A. Gemelli University Hospital, L. go A. Gemelli 8, 00168 Rome, Italy.
Neurobiol Aging. 2003 Mar-Apr;24(2):385-7. doi: 10.1016/s0197-4580(02)00087-8.
Inflammatory processes are considered important in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) is an important mediator of inflammatory response and immune cell activation, is expressed on cerebrovascular endothelium and neuritic plaques in brain of AD patients, and seems to be implicated in the process of neuro-degeneration. A common polymorphism of the ICAM-1 gene (K469E) has been recently reported. In this case-control study, we evaluated the distribution of E/K alleles and genotypes of the ICAM-1 gene in 98 patients affected by sporadic AD and 115 age- and sex-matched controls. The frequency of the EE genotype was significantly higher in AD patients (P<0.01). Logistic regression analysis indicated that the presence of EE genotype significantly increased the risk of AD (odds ratio 3.01 [1.1-8.0], P<0.05). This study shows for the first time an association between ICAM-1 E/K gene polymorphism and AD, suggesting that polymorphisms of the ICAM-1 gene may be clinically important and confirming that inflammatory mechanisms may be crucial in the pathophysiology of neuro-degenerative diseases.
炎症过程在阿尔茨海默病（AD）的发病机制中被认为是重要的。细胞间粘附分子-1（ICAM-1）是炎症反应和免疫细胞激活的重要介质，在AD患者大脑的脑血管内皮和神经炎性斑块上表达，并且似乎与神经退行性变过程有关。最近报道了ICAM-1基因的一种常见多态性（K469E）。在这项病例对照研究中，我们评估了98例散发性AD患者和115例年龄及性别匹配的对照者中ICAM-1基因的E/K等位基因和基因型的分布。AD患者中EE基因型的频率显著更高（P<0.01）。逻辑回归分析表明，EE基因型的存在显著增加了患AD的风险（优势比3.01 [1.1 - 8.0]，P<0.05）。本研究首次表明ICAM-1 E/K基因多态性与AD之间存在关联，提示ICAM-1基因多态性可能具有临床重要性，并证实炎症机制可能在神经退行性疾病的病理生理学中起关键作用。
