Non-coding variability at the APOE locus contributes to the Alzheimer's risk. Academic Article uri icon

Overview

abstract

  • Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a leading cause of mortality in the elderly. While the coding change of APOE-ε4 is a key risk factor for late-onset AD and has been believed to be the only risk factor in the APOE locus, it does not fully explain the risk effect conferred by the locus. Here, we report the identification of AD causal variants in PVRL2 and APOC1 regions in proximity to APOE and define common risk haplotypes independent of APOE-ε4 coding change. These risk haplotypes are associated with changes of AD-related endophenotypes including cognitive performance, and altered expression of APOE and its nearby genes in the human brain and blood. High-throughput genome-wide chromosome conformation capture analysis further supports the roles of these risk haplotypes in modulating chromatin states and gene expression in the brain. Our findings provide compelling evidence for additional risk factors in the APOE locus that contribute to AD pathogenesis.

authors

  • de Leon, Mony
  • Zhou, Xiaopu
  • Chen, Yu
  • Mok, Kin Y
  • Kwok, Timothy C Y
  • Mok, Vincent C T
  • Guo, Qihao
  • Ip, Fanny C
  • Chen, Yuewen
  • Mullapudi, Nandita
  • Giusti-Rodríguez, Paola
  • Sullivan, Patrick F
  • Hardy, John
  • Fu, Amy K Y
  • Li, Yun
  • Ip, Nancy Y

publication date

  • July 25, 2019

Research

keywords

  • Alzheimer Disease
  • Apolipoproteins E

Identity

PubMed Central ID

  • PMC6658518

Scopus Document Identifier

  • 85070600884

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

  • 10.1534/g3.116.029439

PubMed ID

  • 31346172

Additional Document Info

volume

  • 10

issue

  • 1