scholarly journals Sex-dependent autosomal effects on clinical progression of Alzheimer’s disease

Brain ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 143 (7) ◽  
pp. 2272-2280 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chun Chieh Fan ◽  
Sarah J Banks ◽  
Wesley K Thompson ◽  
Chi-Hua Chen ◽  
Linda K McEvoy ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Sex Differences ◽  
Hazard Function ◽  
Predictive Power ◽  
Disease Onset ◽  
Risk Scores ◽  
Clinical Progression ◽  
Genome Wide ◽  
Crossover Analysis

Abstract Sex differences in the manifestations of Alzheimer’s disease are under intense investigation. Despite the emerging importance of polygenic predictions for Alzheimer’s disease, sex-dependent polygenic effects have not been demonstrated. Here, using a sex crossover analysis, we show that sex-dependent autosomal genetic effects on Alzheimer’s disease can be revealed by characterizing disease progress via the hazard function. We first performed sex-stratified genome-wide associations, and then applied derived sex-dependent weights to two independent cohorts. Relative to sex-mismatched scores, sex-matched polygenic hazard scores showed significantly stronger associations with age-at-disease-onset, clinical progression, amyloid deposition, neurofibrillary tangles, and composite neuropathological scores, independent of apolipoprotein E. Models without using hazard weights, i.e. polygenic risk scores, showed lower predictive power than polygenic hazard scores with no evidence for sex differences. Our results indicate that revealing sex-dependent genetic architecture requires the consideration of temporal processes of Alzheimer’s disease. This has strong implications not only for the genetic underpinning of Alzheimer’s disease but also for how we estimate sex-dependent polygenic effects for clinical use.

scholarly journals Sex-dependent polygenic effects on the clinical progressions of Alzheimer’s disease

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chun Chieh Fan ◽  
Sarah J. Banks ◽  
Wesley K. Thompson ◽  
Chi-Hua Chen ◽  
Linda K. McEvoy ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Sex Differences ◽  
Hazard Function ◽  
Genetic Architecture ◽  
Predictive Power ◽  
Disease Onset ◽  
Risk Scores ◽  
Genome Wide ◽  
Crossover Analysis

AbstractSex differences in the manifestations of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) are under intense investigations 1,2. Despite the emerging importance of polygenic predictions for AD 3–8, the sex-dependent polygenic effects have not been demonstrated. Here, using a sex crossover analysis, we show that sex-dependent autosomal genetic effects on AD can be revealed by characterizing disease progress via the hazard function. We first performed sex-stratified genome-wide associations, and then applied derived sex-dependent weights to two independent cohorts. Sex-matched polygenic hazard scores (PHS) have significantly stronger associations with age-at-disease-onset, clinical progressions, amyloid depositions, neurofibrillary tangles, and composite neuropathological scores, than sex-mismatched PHS, independent of apolipoprotein E. Models without using hazard weights, i.e. polygenic risk scores (PRS), have lower predictive power than PHS and show no evidence for sex differences. Our results indicate revealing sex-dependent genetic architecture requires the consideration of temporal processes of AD. This has strong implications not only for the genetic underpinning of AD but also for how we estimate sex-dependent polygenic effects for clinical use.

scholarly journals Prediction of Alzheimer's disease using multi-variants from a Chinese genome-wide association study

Brain ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Longfei Jia ◽  
Fangyu Li ◽  
Cuibai Wei ◽  
Min Zhu ◽  
Qiumin Qu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Association Study ◽  
Predictive Models ◽  
Genome Wide Association Study ◽  
Disease Onset ◽  
Genome Wide Association ◽  
Nucleotide Polymorphisms ◽  
Risk Variants ◽  
Genome Wide

Abstract Previous genome-wide association studies have identified dozens of susceptibility loci for sporadic Alzheimer’s disease, but few of these loci have been validated in longitudinal cohorts. Establishing predictive models of Alzheimer’s disease based on these novel variants is clinically important for verifying whether they have pathological functions and provide a useful tool for screening of disease risk. In the current study, we performed a two-stage genome-wide association study of 3913 patients with Alzheimer’s disease and 7593 controls and identified four novel variants (rs3777215, rs6859823, rs234434, and rs2255835; Pcombined = 3.07 × 10−19, 2.49 × 10−23, 1.35 × 10−67, and 4.81 × 10−9, respectively) as well as nine variants in the apolipoprotein E region with genome-wide significance (P < 5.0 × 10−8). Literature mining suggested that these novel single nucleotide polymorphisms are related to amyloid precursor protein transport and metabolism, antioxidation, and neurogenesis. Based on their possible roles in the development of Alzheimer’s disease, we used different combinations of these variants and the apolipoprotein E status and successively built 11 predictive models. The predictive models include relatively few single nucleotide polymorphisms useful for clinical practice, in which the maximum number was 13 and the minimum was only four. These predictive models were all significant and their peak of area under the curve reached 0.73 both in the first and second stages. Finally, these models were validated using a separate longitudinal cohort of 5474 individuals. The results showed that individuals carrying risk variants included in the models had a shorter latency and higher incidence of Alzheimer’s disease, suggesting that our models can predict Alzheimer’s disease onset in a population with genetic susceptibility. The effectiveness of the models for predicting Alzheimer’s disease onset confirmed the contributions of these identified variants to disease pathogenesis. In conclusion, this is the first study to validate genome-wide association study-based predictive models for evaluating the risk of Alzheimer’s disease onset in a large Chinese population. The clinical application of these models will be beneficial for individuals harbouring these risk variants, and particularly for young individuals seeking genetic consultation.

scholarly journals Alzheimer’s disease genetic risk and sleep phenotypes: association with more slow-waves and daytime sleepiness

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vincenzo Muto ◽  
Ekaterina Koshmanova ◽  
Pouya Ghaemmaghami ◽  
Mathieu Jaspar ◽  
Christelle Meyer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Genetic Variants ◽  
Daytime Sleepiness ◽  
Sleep Disturbances ◽  
Cognitive Disorders ◽  
Risk Scores ◽  
Polygenic Risk ◽  
Genome Wide

AbstractSleep disturbances and genetic variants have been identified as risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease. Whether genome-wide polygenic risk scores (PRS) for AD associate with sleep phenotypes in young adults, decades before typical AD symptom onset, is currently not known. We extensively phenotyped sleep under different sleep conditions and compute whole-genome Polygenic Risk Scores (PRS) for AD in a carefully selected homogenous sample of healthy 363 young men (22.1 y ± 2.7) devoid of sleep and cognitive disorders. AD PRS was associated with more slow wave energy, i.e. the cumulated power in the 0.5-4 Hz EEG band, a marker of sleep need, during habitual sleep and following sleep loss. Furthermore higher AD PRS was correlated with higher habitual daytime sleepiness. These results imply that sleep features may be associated with AD liability in young adults, when current AD biomarkers are typically negative, and reinforce the idea that sleep may be an efficient intervention target for AD.

scholarly journals Sex differences in the genetic predictors of Alzheimer’s pathology

Brain ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 142 (9) ◽  
pp. 2581-2589 ◽  
Author(s):  
Logan Dumitrescu ◽  
Lisa L Barnes ◽  
Madhav Thambisetty ◽  
Gary Beecham ◽  
Brian Kunkle ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Sex Differences ◽  
Disease Risk ◽  
Association Studies ◽  
Age At Onset ◽  
Genome Wide Association Studies ◽  
Genetic Associations ◽  
Data Repositories ◽  
Genome Wide

Abstract Autopsy measures of Alzheimer’s disease neuropathology have been leveraged as endophenotypes in previous genome-wide association studies (GWAS). However, despite evidence of sex differences in Alzheimer’s disease risk, sex-stratified models have not been incorporated into previous GWAS analyses. We looked for sex-specific genetic associations with Alzheimer’s disease endophenotypes from six brain bank data repositories. The pooled dataset included 2701 males and 3275 females, the majority of whom were diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease at autopsy (70%). Sex-stratified GWAS were performed within each dataset and then meta-analysed. Loci that reached genome-wide significance (P < 5 × 10−8) in stratified models were further assessed for sex interactions. Additional analyses were performed in independent datasets leveraging cognitive, neuroimaging and CSF endophenotypes, along with age-at-onset data. Outside of the APOE region, one locus on chromosome 7 (rs34331204) showed a sex-specific association with neurofibrillary tangles among males (P = 2.5 × 10−8) but not females (P = 0.85, sex-interaction P = 2.9 × 10−4). In follow-up analyses, rs34331204 was also associated with hippocampal volume, executive function, and age-at-onset only among males. These results implicate a novel locus that confers male-specific protection from tau pathology and highlight the value of assessing genetic associations in a sex-specific manner.

scholarly journals The Histone H3 K4me3, K27me3, and K27ac Genome-Wide Distributions Are Differently Influenced by Sex in Brain Cortexes and Gastrocnemius of the Alzheimer’s Disease PSAPP Mouse Model

Epigenomes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 26
Author(s):  
Francesca Casciaro ◽  
Giuseppe Persico ◽  
Martina Rusin ◽  
Stefano Amatori ◽  
Claire Montgomery ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Sex Differences ◽  
Mouse Model ◽  
Histone H3 ◽  
Signal Distribution ◽  
Dementia Prevalence ◽  
Genome Wide ◽  
Gastrocnemius Muscles ◽  
Behavioral Mechanisms

Background: Women represent the majority of Alzheimer’s disease patients and show typical symptoms. Genetic, hormonal, and behavioral mechanisms have been proposed to explain sex differences in dementia prevalence. However, whether sex differences exist in the epigenetic landscape of neuronal tissue during the progression of the disease is still unknown. Methods: To investigate the differences of histone H3 modifications involved in transcription, we determined the genome-wide profiles of H3K4me3, H3K27ac, and H3K27me3 in brain cortexes of an Alzheimer mouse model (PSAPP). Gastrocnemius muscles were also tested since they are known to be different in the two sexes and are affected during the disease progression. Results: Correlation analysis distinguished the samples based on sex for H3K4me3 and H3K27me3 but not for H3K27ac. The analysis of transcription starting sites (TSS) signal distribution, and analysis of bounding sites revealed that gastrocnemius is more influenced than brain by sex for the three histone modifications considered, exception made for H3K27me3 distribution on the X chromosome which showed sex-related differences in promoters belonging to behavior and cellular or neuronal spheres in mice cortexes. Conclusions: H3K4me3, H3K27ac, and H3K27me3 signals are slightly affected by sex in brain, with the exception of H3K27me3, while a higher number of differences can be found in gastrocnemius.

scholarly journals Similar Genetic Architecture of Alzheimer’s Disease and Differential APOE Effect Between Sexes

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hao Wang ◽  
Min-Tzu Lo ◽  
Sara Brin Rosenthal ◽  
Carolina Makowski ◽  
Ole A. Andreassen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Sex Differences ◽  
Genetic Correlation ◽  
Genetic Architecture ◽  
Clinical Manifestations ◽  
Genome Wide ◽  
Significant Locus ◽  
Active Research ◽  
Or Gene

Sex differences have been observed in the clinical manifestations of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and elucidating their genetic basis is an active research topic. Based on autosomal genotype data of 7,216 men and 10,680 women, including 8,136 AD cases and 9,760 controls, we explored sex-related genetic heterogeneity in AD by investigating SNP heritability, genetic correlation, as well as SNP- and gene-based genome-wide analyses. We found similar SNP heritability (men: 19.5%; women: 21.5%) and high genetic correlation (Rg = 0.96) between the sexes. The heritability of APOE ε4-related risks for AD, after accounting for effects of all SNPs excluding chromosome 19, was nominally, but not significantly, higher in women (10.6%) than men (9.7%). In age-stratified analyses, ε3/ε4 was associated with a higher risk of AD among women than men aged 65–75 years, but not in the full sample. Apart from APOE, no new significant locus was identified in sex-stratified gene-based analyses. Our result of the high genetic correlation indicates overall similar genetic architecture of AD in both sexes at the genome-wide averaged level. Our study suggests that clinically observed sex differences may arise from sex-specific variants with small effects or more complicated mechanisms involving epigenetic alterations, sex chromosomes, or gene-environment interactions.

scholarly journals Effect of Polygenic Score on Alzheimer’s Disease Risk Depends on Age and APOE Status

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Fulton-Howard ◽  
Alison M. Goate ◽  
Robert P. Adelson ◽  
Jeremy Koppel ◽  
Marc L. Gordon ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Genetic Risk ◽  
Disease Risk ◽  
Age Of Onset ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Screening Method ◽  
Disease Onset ◽  
Risk Scores ◽  
Cross Sectional

AbstractPolygenic risk scores (PRS) have the potential to serve as a low-cost, non-invasive screening method for Alzheimer’s disease (AD). However, to what extent age and the Apolipoprotein E-ε4 (APOE4) risk allele influence the effect of PRS is underexplored. In a cohort of 346 superager controls (age ≥ 90 years), 2,930 controls (age 60-89) and 1,760 AD cases, we computed APOE-independent PRS for AD. When using superager controls, subjects with PRS in the top decile had nearly five times greater odds of having AD than subjects in the lowest decile (OR=4.91, P=2.24×10−6). In our cross-sectional cohort, PRS modifies the age of onset for AD among APOE4 carriers, but not among non-carriers. Among APOE4 carriers, PRS in the top decile was associated with a five years earlier AD onset than the lowest decile (70.0 vs 75.0 years; t-test P=2.4×10−5). These findings suggest that APOE-independent genetic risk disproportionally affects younger APOE4 carriers, leading to earlier disease onset, while older controls carry less genetic risk.

Sex differences in response to a high fat diet in an Alzheimer’s Disease mouse model

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alejandra Freire Fernández-Regatillo ◽  
María L. de Ceballos ◽  
Jesús Argente ◽  
Sonia Díaz Pacheco ◽  
Clara González Martínez
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Sex Differences ◽  
Mouse Model ◽  
High Fat Diet ◽  
High Fat

Elucidating the risk factors for progression from amyloid-negative amnestic mild cognitive impairment to dementia

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hyung-Ji Kim ◽  
Jae-Hong Lee ◽  
E-nae Cheong ◽  
Sung-Eun Chung ◽  
Sungyang Jo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factors ◽  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Cognitive Impairment ◽  
Mild Cognitive Impairment ◽  
Amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment ◽  
Amyloid Pet ◽  
Clinical Progression ◽  
Amnestic Mci

Background: Amyloid PET allows for the assessment of amyloid β status in the brain, distinguishing true Alzheimer’s disease from Alzheimer’s disease-mimicking conditions. Around 15–20% of patients with clinically probable Alzheimer’s disease have been found to have no significant Alzheimer’s pathology on amyloid PET. However, a limited number of studies had been conducted this subpopulation in terms of clinical progression. Objective: We investigated the risk factors that could affect the progression to dementia in patients with amyloid-negative amnestic mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Methods: This study was a single-institutional, retrospective cohort study of patients over the age of 50 with amyloidnegative amnestic MCI who visited the memory clinic of Asan Medical Center with a follow-up period of more than 36 months. All participants underwent brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), detailed neuropsychological testing, and fluorine-18[F18]-florbetaben amyloid PET. Results: During the follow-up period, 39 of 107 patients progressed to dementia from amnestic MCI. In comparison with the stationary group, the progressed group had a more severe impairment in verbal and visual episodic memory function and hippocampal atrophy, which showed an Alzheimer’s disease-like pattern despite the lack of evidence for significant Alzheimer’s disease pathology. Voxel-based morphometric MRI analysis revealed that the progressed group had a reduced gray matter volume in the bilateral cerebellar cortices, right temporal cortex, and bilateral insular cortices. Conclusion: Considering the lack of evidence of amyloid pathology, clinical progression of these subpopulation may be caused by other neuropathologies such as TDP-43, abnormal tau or alpha synuclein that lead to neurodegeneration independent of amyloid-driven pathway. Further prospective studies incorporating biomarkers of Alzheimer’s diseasemimicking dementia are warranted.

scholarly journals Genome-wide analysis identifies a novel LINC-PINT splice variant associated with vascular amyloid pathology in Alzheimer’s disease

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph S. Reddy ◽  
Mariet Allen ◽  
Charlotte C. G. Ho ◽  
Stephanie R. Oatman ◽  
Özkan İş ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Genome Wide Association Study ◽  
Transcriptome Profiling ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Common Finding ◽  
Amyloid Angiopathy ◽  
Genome Wide ◽  
A Genome ◽  
Male Sex

AbstractCerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA) contributes to accelerated cognitive decline in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) dementia and is a common finding at autopsy. The APOEε4 allele and male sex have previously been reported to associate with increased CAA in AD. To inform biomarker and therapeutic target discovery, we aimed to identify additional genetic risk factors and biological pathways involved in this vascular component of AD etiology. We present a genome-wide association study of CAA pathology in AD cases and report sex- and APOE-stratified assessment of this phenotype. Genome-wide genotypes were collected from 853 neuropathology-confirmed AD cases scored for CAA across five brain regions, and imputed to the Haplotype Reference Consortium panel. Key variables and genome-wide genotypes were tested for association with CAA in all individuals and in sex and APOEε4 stratified subsets. Pathway enrichment was run for each of the genetic analyses. Implicated loci were further investigated for functional consequences using brain transcriptome data from 1,186 samples representing seven brain regions profiled as part of the AMP-AD consortium. We confirmed association of male sex, AD neuropathology and APOEε4 with increased CAA, and identified a novel locus, LINC-PINT, associated with lower CAA amongst APOEε4-negative individuals (rs10234094-C, beta = −3.70 [95% CI −0.49—−0.24]; p = 1.63E-08). Transcriptome profiling revealed higher LINC-PINT expression levels in AD cases, and association of rs10234094-C with altered LINC-PINT splicing. Pathway analysis indicates variation in genes involved in neuronal health and function are linked to CAA in AD patients. Further studies in additional and diverse cohorts are needed to assess broader translation of our findings.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document