Association between angiotensin-converting enzyme gene and late onset Alzheimer's disease in Han Chinese

There is now overwhelming evidence that the epsilon4 allele of apolipoprote in (APOE) gene is a major risk factor for late-onset Alzheimer's disease (A D). However, the APOE locus only accounts for a proportion of the overall g enetic risk for AD. The angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) is widely expre ssed in the brain and may have a role in AD. Recently an insertion/deletion (IID) DNA polymorphism at the intron 16 of ACE gene has been found associa ted with late-onset AD, but the results are not consistent. We have examine d ACE gene in a cohort of Han Chinese AD cases and controls. We have found the ACE-I allele was enriched in our cases compared to controls (odds ratio (OR) = 2.09, P = 0.0043). The phenomenon was restricted to cases presentin g with AD after the age of 70 years (P < 0.0005), and was independent of AP OE genotype. We conclude that ACE genotype is a risk factor for late onset AD. (C) 2000 Published by Elsevier Science ireland Ltd.