Celiac.com 05/16/2016 - A number of epidemiological and clinical studies suggest a connection between inflammation and Alzheimer disease, their relationship is not well understood and may have implications for treatment and prevention strategies.
A research team recently set out to figure out if a subset of genes involved with increased risk of inflammation are also associated with increased risk for Alzheimer disease. The research team included JS Yokoyama, Y Wang, AJ Schork, WK Thompson, CM Karch, C Cruchaga, LK McEvoy, A Witoelar, CH Chen, D Holland, JB Brewer, A Franke, WP Dillon, DM Wilson, P Mukherjee, CP Hess, Z Miller, LW Bonham, J Shen, GD Rabinovici, HJ Rosen, BL Miller, BT Hyman, GD Schellenberg, TH Karlsen, OA Andreassen, AM Dale, RS Desikan; and the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative.
Using data from numerous genome-wide association studies from several clinical research centers, the team conducted a genetic epidemiology study in July 2015, in which they systematically investigated genetic overlap between Alzheimer disease (International Genomics of Alzheimer's Project stage 1) and Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, rheumatoid arthritis, type 1 diabetes, celiac disease, and psoriasis.
The team assessed P values and odds ratios from genome-wide association studies of more than 100, 000 individuals from previous comparisons of patients vs respective control groups. They used consensus criteria to confirm diagnosis for each disorder previously made in the parent study. The main outcome was the pleiotropic (conjunction) false discovery rate P value.
Follow-up for candidate variants included neuritic plaque and neurofibrillary tangle pathology; longitudinal Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale cognitive subscale scores as a measure of cognitive dysfunction (Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative); and gene expression in Alzheimer disease vs control brains (Gene Expression Omnibus data).
These findings confirm genetic overlap between Alzheimer disease and immune-mediated diseases, and suggest that immune system processes influence Alzheimer disease pathogenesis and progression.
For more detail, and exact data results, see JAMA Neurol. 2016 Apr 18. doi: 10.1001/jamaneurol.2016.0150.
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