A genome-wide association study of late-onset Alzheimer’s disease in a Japanese population

OBJECTIVE: Although a number of genome-wide association studies (GWASs) of late-onset Alzheimer's disease (LOAD) have been carried out, there have been little GWAS data on East Asian populations. DESIGN: To discover the novel susceptibility loci of LOAD, we carried out a GWAS using 816 LOAD cases and 7992 controls with a replication analysis using an independent panel of 1011 LOAD cases and 7212 controls in a Japanese population. In addition, we carried out a stratified analysis by APOE-ε4 status to eliminate the established effect of APOE region. RESULTS: Our data indicated that 18p11.32 (rs1992269, P = 9.77 × 10(-7)), CNTNAP2 (rs802571, P = 1.26 × 10(-6)), and 12q24.23 (rs11613092, P = 6.85 × 10(-6)) were suggestive loci for susceptibility to LOAD. CONCLUSION: We identified three suggestive loci for susceptibility to LOAD in a Japanese population. Among these, rs802571, located at intron 1 of CNTNAP2, was considered to be a plausible candidate locus from a functional perspective.