Association of CALHM1 Gene Polymorphism with Late Onset Alzheimer's Disease in Iranian Population

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a genetically heterogeneous neurodegenerative disease and Late-Onset type (LOAD) is the most common form of dementia affecting people over 65 years old. CALHM1 (P86L) encodes a transmembrane glycoprotein that controls cytosolic Ca(2+) concentrations and Aβ levels and P86L polymorphism in this gene is significantly associated with LOAD in independent case controls in a number of studies. This study was performed to determine whether this polymorphism contributes to the risk for LOAD in Iranian population. One hundred and forty one AD patients and 141 healthy controls were recruited in this study. After extraction of genomic DNA, the genotype and allele frequencies were determined in case and control subjects using PCR/RFLP method. The statistical analysis showed a significant difference in the heterozygote genotype frequency in case and control groups and polymorphic allele had a protective role between two groups. Also after stratifying the subjects by their APOE-ɛ4 status, no significant association was observed. Our study suggests that P86L polymorphism could be a protective factor for late-onset Alzheimer's disease (LOAD) in Iranian population. However, to confirm these results, further study with a bigger sample size may be required.