Identical distribution of the alpha 2-macroglobulin pentanucleotide deletion in subjects with Alzheimer disease and controls in a German population

Recently, an association between a deletion polymorphism in the alpha2-macr oglobulin gene (A2M) and Alzheimer disease (AD) has been reported. The aim of the present study was to corroborate this association in a German popula tion of 102 AD patients and two control samples of 191 healthy subject and 160 depressed patients. The frequency of the A2M genotype in AD patients wa s almost identical to that in both control samples, Logistic regression ana lysis revealed an effect of age and the APOE genotype on AD risk, but no ef fect of the A2M genotype, Our findings do not support the fact that the pre viously reported positive association between A2M deletion polymorphism and AD modifies the disease risk in the studied population. (C) 2000 Wiley-Lis s, Inc.