Transethnic genome-wide scan identifies novel Alzheimer's disease loci

Genetic loci for Alzheimer's disease (AD) have been identified in whites of European ancestry, but the genetic architecture of AD among other populations is less understood.

We conducted a transethnic genome-wide association study (GWAS) for late-onset AD in Stage 1 sample including whites of European Ancestry, African-Americans, Japanese, and Israeli-Arabs assembled by the Alzheimer's Disease Genetics Consortium. Suggestive results from Stage 1 from novel loci were followed up using summarized results in the International Genomics Alzheimer's Project GWAS dataset.

Genome-wide significant (GWS) associations in single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)-based tests (P < 5 × 10^-8) were identified for SNPs in PFDN1/HBEGF, USP6NL/ECHDC3, and BZRAP1-AS1 and for the interaction of the (apolipoprotein E) APOE ε4 allele with NFIC SNP. We also obtained GWS evidence (P < 2.7 × 10^-6) for gene-based association in the total sample with a novel locus, TPBG (P = 1.8 × 10^-6).

Our findings highlight the value of transethnic studies for identifying novel AD susceptibility loci.