Role of OLR1 and its regulating hsa-miR369-3p in Alzheimer's disease: genetics and expression analysis

J Alzheimers Dis. 2011;26(4):787-93. doi: 10.3233/JAD-2011-110074.

Abstract

The oxidized LDL receptor 1 gene (OLR1) rs1050283 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) has been previously shown to be associated with Alzheimer's disease (AD). An association analysis of OLR1 was carried out in a population of 443 patients with AD as compared with 393 age-matched controls. In addition, an expression analysis of OLR1 and its regulatory hsa-miR369-3p was performed in peripheral mononuclear blood cells (PBMC) from 20 patients and 15 controls. Logistic regression analysis, adjusted for gender and apolipoprotein E (ApoE) status, showed a statistically significant association of OLR1 rs1050283 under the assumption of a dominant model (CC and CT individuals versus TT: p = 0.014, OR: 1.50, 95%CI: 1.08-2.08) and a genotypic model (TC versus TT: p = 0.002, OR: 1.61, 95%CI: 1.14-2.26). No significant differences in OLR1 expression was observed between patients and controls (p > 0.05). However, stratifying patients according to the rs1050283 status, significantly decreased relative PBMC expression levels of OLR1 were observed in carriers of CC+CT genotypes as compared with TT carriers (0.13 ± 0.013 versus 0.46 ± 0.028, p = 0.022), whereas no differences in relative expression levels of the hsa-miR369-3p were observed (p > 0.05). The effect observed was not due to the presence of the ApoE ε4 allele. The OLR1 rs1050283 SNP likely acts as a risk factor for sporadic AD. The presence of at least one C allele is associated with a decreased expression of OLR1 mRNA in the absence of hsa-miR369-3p de-regulation, suggesting that the presence of the polymorphic allele influences the binding of hsa-miR369-3p to its 3'UTR consensus sequence. Nevertheless, the limited power of the study requires further investigations with a larger sample size.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Age of Onset
  • Aged
  • Alleles
  • Alzheimer Disease / genetics*
  • Apolipoproteins E / genetics
  • DNA / genetics
  • DNA / isolation & purification
  • Female
  • Gene Expression Regulation / genetics
  • Genotype
  • Humans
  • Italy
  • Male
  • MicroRNAs / genetics*
  • Monocytes / drug effects
  • Neuropsychological Tests
  • Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide / genetics
  • RNA, Messenger / biosynthesis
  • RNA, Messenger / genetics
  • Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction
  • Scavenger Receptors, Class E / genetics*

Substances

  • Apolipoproteins E
  • MIRN369 microRNA, human
  • MicroRNAs
  • OLR1 protein, human
  • RNA, Messenger
  • Scavenger Receptors, Class E
  • DNA