No association between c-fos gene polymorphisms and sporadic Alzheimer's disease

Although ApoE epsilon 4 is a major risk factor for sporadic Alzheimer's disease (AD), 20-30% of sporadic AD patients do not have this allele. This indicates that other risk factors are involved in the pathogenesis of sporadic AD. Studies of the genetic association between AD and polymorphisms in the c-fos gene, a candidate gene for AD, were conducted. The polymorphisms of DsaI in exon 2 and Sau3 AI in intron 2 were examined in 89 patients diagnosed as sporadic cases of probable AD clinically and radiologically according to the NINCDS-ADRDA criteria. This was also undertaken in 96 controls. There was no significant difference between the groups in allele frequencies or genotype counts. Although c-fos gene as a locus conferring susceptibility to sporadic AD cannot be ruled out, these data could not support the hypothesis that a c-fos allele should be another risk factor for sporadic AD.