Apolipoprotein E and α1‐antichymotrypsin polymorphism in Alzheimer's disease

Abstract
A recent observation has shown that a common polymorphism in the α1‐antichymotrypsin (ACT) gene modifies the apolipoprotein E (ApoE) ε4‐associated Alzheimer's disease (AD) risk identifing the combination of the ACT/AA and ApoE ε4/ε4 genotypes as a potential susceptibility marker for AD. We analyzed the segregation of the ApoE and ACT polymorphism in sporadic and familial AD patients. In none of the sporadic AD patients did we find the combination of the ACT/AA and ApoE ε4/ε4 genotypes. The frequency of ApoE ε4/ε4 homozygosity in the AD sample resulted highest for the ACT/TT genotype (17.6%). Our data fail to confirm any additional association with AD beyond the ApoE ε4 allele with any ACT genotype, suggesting that ACT does not represent an additional risk factor for AD.
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