Absence of A673T amyloid-β precursor protein variant in Alzheimer's disease and other neurological diseases.

The rare variant A673T in the amyloid-β precursor protein (APP) gene has been shown to reduce the risk of cognitive impairment. We genotyped the variant in 8721 Asian individuals comprising 552 with Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia, 790 with Parkinson's disease, and 7379 controls. The A673T variant was absent in all of the subjects. Our finding suggests that the A673T protective variant is not relevant in our Asian population. Studies in other ethnic populations would clarify whether this variant is specific to specific races/ethnicities.