MICROSATELLITE POLYMORPHISM OF THE ALPHA(1)-ANTICHYMOTRYPSIN GENE LOCUS ASSOCIATED WITH SPORADIC ALZHEIMERS-DISEASE

A variant of the apolipoprotein E gene, APOE4, is associated with bot h sporadic Alzheimer's disease (AD) and a subset of familial AD and th is association is stronger with early as opposed to late onset AD. Bot h APOE4 and al-antichymotrypsin (ACT) will accelerate the rate of amy loid filament formation and are major constituents of the plaques asso ciated with AD. We now show that a dinucleotide microsatellite allele in the 5'-flanking sequence of the ACT gene, designated A10, in associ ation with APOE4 significantly increases the risk of developing spora dic AD, which accounts for the majority of AD cases.