Oxidative stress plays a role in tau hyperphosphorylation and the development of neurofibrillary tangles (NFT). In Alzheimer’s disease (AD) brain, accumulation of hyperphosphorylated tau in NFT is associated with the induction of heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1), a potent antioxidant that downregulates the production of tau. In a case-control study of 300 AD patients and 360 healthy controls, we examined whether the combined gene effects between HO-1 (–413, rs2071746) and tau (5′ of exon 1, rs242557) polymorphisms might be responsible for susceptibility to AD. Subjects carrying both the HO-1 (–413) TT and the tau (5′ of exon 1) AA genotypes had a more than 6.5-time higher risk of developing AD than subjects without these risk genotypes (OR = 6.65, 95% CI 1.12–39.29; p = 0.037). These data support a role for tau-related genes in the risk of AD.

Keywords:
Alzheimer’s disease, Heme oxygenase-1, Tau phosphorylation, Genetic polymorphism
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© 2008 S. Karger AG, Basel
2008
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