Association of common and rare variants with Alzheimer's disease in more than 13,000 diverse individuals with whole-genome sequencing from the Alzheimer's Disease Sequencing Project

Abstract

INTRODUCTION

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a common disorder of the elderly that is both highly heritable and genetically heterogeneous.

METHODS

We investigated the association of AD with both common variants and aggregates of rare coding and non-coding variants in 13,371 individuals of diverse ancestry with whole genome sequencing (WGS) data.

RESULTS

Pooled-population analyses of all individuals identified genetic variants at apolipoprotein E (APOE) and BIN1 associated with AD (p < 5 × 10⁻⁸). Subgroup-specific analyses identified a haplotype on chromosome 14 including PSEN1 associated with AD in Hispanics, further supported by aggregate testing of rare coding and non-coding variants in the region. Common variants in LINC00320 were observed associated with AD in Black individuals (p = 1.9 × 10⁻⁹). Finally, we observed rare non-coding variants in the promoter of TOMM40 distinct of APOE in pooled-population analyses (p = 7.2 × 10⁻⁸).

DISCUSSION

We observed that complementary pooled-population and subgroup-specific analyses offered unique insights into the genetic architecture of AD.

Highlights

• We determine the association of genetic variants with Alzheimer's disease (AD) using 13,371 individuals of diverse ancestry with whole genome sequencing (WGS) data.
• We identified genetic variants at apolipoprotein E (APOE), BIN1, PSEN1, and LINC00320 associated with AD.
• We observed rare non-coding variants in the promoter of TOMM40 distinct of APOE.