Genome-wide copy-number variation study of psychosis in Alzheimer's disease

Transl Psychiatry. 2015 Jun 2;5(6):e574. doi: 10.1038/tp.2015.64.

Abstract

About 40-60% of patients with late-onset Alzheimer's disease (AD) develop psychosis, which represents a distinct phenotype of more severe cognitive and functional deficits. The estimated heritability of AD+P is ~61%, which makes it a good target for genetic mapping. We performed a genome-wide copy-number variation (CNV) study on 496 AD cases with psychosis (AD+P), 639 AD subjects with intermediate psychosis (AD intermediate P) and 156 AD subjects without psychosis (AD-P) who were recruited at the University of Pittsburgh Alzheimer's Disease Research Center using over 1 million single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and CNV markers. CNV load analysis found no significant difference in total and average CNV length and CNV number in the AD+P or AD intermediate P groups compared with the AD-P group. Our analysis revealed a marginally significant lower number of duplication events in AD+P cases compared with AD-P controls (P=0.059) using multivariable regression model. The most interesting finding was the presence of a genome-wide significant duplication in the APC2 gene on chromosome 19, which was protective against developing AD+P (odds ratio=0.42; P=7.2E-10). We also observed suggestive associations of duplications with AD+P in the SET (P=1.95E-06), JAG2 (P=5.01E-07) and ZFPM1 (P=2.13E-07) genes and marginal association of a deletion in CNTLN (P=8.87E-04). We have identified potential novel loci for psychosis in Alzheimer's disease that warrant follow-up in large-scale independent studies.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

  • Aged
  • Aged, 80 and over
  • Alzheimer Disease / genetics*
  • Alzheimer Disease / psychology
  • Case-Control Studies
  • Cell Cycle Proteins / genetics
  • Cytoskeletal Proteins / genetics
  • DNA Copy Number Variations*
  • DNA-Binding Proteins
  • Female
  • Genetic Predisposition to Disease
  • Genome-Wide Association Study
  • Histone Chaperones / genetics
  • Humans
  • Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins / genetics
  • Jagged-2 Protein
  • Male
  • Membrane Proteins / genetics
  • Multivariate Analysis
  • Nuclear Proteins / genetics
  • Odds Ratio
  • Phenotype
  • Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide
  • Psychotic Disorders / genetics*
  • Psychotic Disorders / psychology
  • Regression Analysis
  • Severity of Illness Index
  • Transcription Factors / genetics

Substances

  • APC2 protein, human
  • CNTLN protein, human
  • Cell Cycle Proteins
  • Cytoskeletal Proteins
  • DNA-Binding Proteins
  • Histone Chaperones
  • Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins
  • JAG2 protein, human
  • Jagged-2 Protein
  • Membrane Proteins
  • Nuclear Proteins
  • SET protein, human
  • Transcription Factors
  • ZFPM1 protein, human