NALP1/NLRP1 genetic variants are associated with Alzheimer disease

Alzheimer disease (AD) is a complex neurodegenerative disease. Genetic and molecular studies have confirmed that in the human brain, amyloid-β fibrils can induce, through the activation of NALP1 inflammosome, inflammatory and apoptotic responses involved in the pathogenesis of AD. Considering that AD pathogenesis is multifactorial, we hypothesized that NALP1/NLRP1 could be a susceptibility gene involved in the devolvement of the disease. The possible association between 9 selected polymorphisms in the NALP1/NLRP1 gene and AD was evaluated by comparing their frequency distribution in an Italian cohort of AD patients (AD, n = 276) and in a group of Italian sex-matched and age-matched healthy controls without dementia (HC, n = 266). Our study, evidences the association of 4 nonsynonymous polymorphisms in the NLRP1 gene (rs2137722, rs34733791, rs11657747, rs11651595) with AD. The major alleles of all 4 single nucleotide polymorphisms and the corresponding homozygote genotypes were more frequent in AD patients than in healthy controls, suggesting an association of these variants in the predisposition versus the development of the disease. These findings seem to support the previously reported role of NALP1 in neuronal damage, and provide evidence of an association between single nucleotide variations in the NLRP1 gene and AD.