Basic Science and Pathogenesis

Employing a joint test of objectively-measured endophenotypes vs. traditional binary outcomes (i.e., affected vs. non-affected) can enhance power to discover novel genetic loci for Alzheimer's disease and related dementia (ADRD). We tested the association between rare variants and scores across multiple cognitive domains using data from the Mexican Health and Aging Study (MHAS) and conducted replication analyses in two multi-ethnic cohorts: Washington Heights Inwood Aging Project (WHICAP) and Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA).

Genome-wide gene-based test employing rare variants from whole-genome sequencing (WGS) was carried out using MultiSKAT package in 1,930 Mexicans. Replication used imputed genotype data from 909 WHICAP participants and 4,276 MESA participants. Variants were filtered on allele frequency (<1%) and, if imputed, >=80%. We adjusted for sex, age, education, and APOE.

In MHAS, we identified a genome-wide significant locus, PCAT5, before and after APOE adjustment (p = 9.89E-07; p = 9.74E-07, respectively). We replicated the signal in both WHICAP (p = 0.018, p = 0.019, before/after APOE adjustment, respectively) and MESA (p = 4.07E-10; p = 7.12E-10 before/after APOE adjustment, respectively). Within the latter, when stratified by ethnicity, African Americans (n =  1,018) showed a nominal significant association before/after APOE adjustment (p = 0.0254; p = 0.0248, respectively).

This study provides strong evidence for the association of rare variants within PCAT5 and cognitive performances across different populations. Importantly, a rare variant in PCAT5 was previously reported in a large meta-analysis for ADRD of 65,602 Non-Hispanic Whites (Naj, 2021). These findings suggest that PCAT5 may play a role in ADRD pathology independently of APOE, warranting further biological investigations to understand the mechanisms underlining this gene's role.