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BMC Medical Genetics

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Open Access 01-12-2012 | Research article

Genetic analysis of polymorphisms in the kalirin gene for association with age-at-onset in European Huntington disease patients

Authors: Yu-Chun Tsai, Silke Metzger, Olaf Riess, Anne S Soehn, Huu Phuc Nguyen

Published in: BMC Medical Genetics | Issue 1/2012

Abstract

Background

Huntington disease (HD) is caused by an expanded CAG repeat in the HD gene. Although the length of the CAG repeat strongly correlates with the age-at-onset (AAO), AAO in HD individuals may differ dramatically in spite of similar expanded CAG repeat lengths. Additional genetic or environmental factors are thought to influence the disease onset. Several modifier genes have been discovered so far but they do not fully explain the variability of AAO in HD. To potentially identify a novel genetic modifier, we analyzed single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the kalirin (KALRN) gene. Kalirin is a protein crucially involved in spine plasticity and its interaction with huntingtin-associated protein-1 (HAP-1) and a potential protein dysfunction might contribute to spine pathogenesis in HD.

Methods

The selected SNPs were genotyped by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) and association of SNPs with AAO was investigated with the framework of linear models in an analysis of variance and covariance.

Results

Eleven SNPs in the kalirin gene were examined in an association study in European HD patients. The ten coding SNPs under investigation were monomorphic, whereas SNP rs10934657 in the promoter region showed a minor allele frequency >1%. An analysis of covariance together with the influence of the expanded HD allele was applied in 680 HD patients. SNP rs10934657 did not affect the AAO of the examined HD population.

Conclusions

The results did not reveal an association between the analyzed kalirin polymorphisms and the AAO in HD. However, it does not exclude other SNPs of the kalirin gene as susceptible genetic modifiers.

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The pre-publication history for this paper can be accessed here:http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2350/13/48/prepub

Title: Genetic analysis of polymorphisms in the kalirin gene for association with age-at-onset in European Huntington disease patients
Authors: Yu-Chun Tsai
Silke Metzger
Olaf Riess
Anne S Soehn
Huu Phuc Nguyen
Publication date: 01-12-2012
Publisher: BioMed Central
Published in: BMC Medical Genetics / Issue 1/2012
Electronic ISSN: 1471-2350
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2350-13-48

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Springer Medicine

Genetic analysis of polymorphisms in the kalirin gene for association with age-at-onset in European Huntington disease patients

Abstract

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Keynote webinar | Spotlight on medication adherence

Springer Medicine

Abstract

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusions

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