Identification of novel loci for Alzheimer disease and replication of CLU, PICALM, and BIN1 in Caribbean Hispanic individuals.

OBJECTIVES

To identify novel loci for late-onset Alzheimer disease (LOAD) in Caribbean Hispanic individuals and to replicate the findings in a publicly available data set from the National Institute on Aging Late-Onset Alzheimer's Disease Family Study.

DESIGN

Nested case-control genome-wide association study.

SETTING

The Washington Heights-Inwood Columbia Aging Project and the Estudio Familiar de Influencia Genetica de Alzheimer study.

PARTICIPANTS

Five hundred forty-nine affected and 544 unaffected individuals of Caribbean Hispanic ancestry.

INTERVENTION

The Illumina HumanHap 650Y chip for genotyping.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE

Clinical diagnosis or pathologically confirmed diagnosis of LOAD.

RESULTS

The strongest support for allelic association was for rs9945493 on 18q23 (P=1.7×10(-7)), but 22 additional single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) had a P value less than 9×10(-6) under 3 different analyses: unadjusted and stratified by the presence or absence of the APOE ε4 allele. Of these SNPs, 5 SNPs (rs4669573 and rs10197851 on 2p25.1; rs11711889 on 3q25.2; rs1117750 on 7p21.1; and rs7908652 on 10q23.1) were associated with LOAD in an independent cohort from the National Institute on Aging Late-Onset Alzheimer's Disease Family Study. We also replicated genetic associations for CLU, PICALM, and BIN1.

CONCLUSIONS

Our genome-wide search of Caribbean Hispanic individuals identified several novel genetic variants associated with LOAD and replicated these associations in a white cohort. We also replicated associations in CLU, PICALM, and BIN1 in the Caribbean Hispanic cohort.