Catechol-<b><i>O</i></b>-Methyltransferase GeneticVariant Associated with the Risk of Alzheimers Disease in a Brazilian Population

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to examine the association between polymorphism in the catechol-O-methyltransferase(COMT) gene and Alzheimer's disease (AD) in a Brazilian population. The case-control method was used to study the association between AD and genetic variants of COMT. Six tag single-nucleotide polymorphisms(SNPs) in the COMT gene were genotyped by RT-PCR. Our findings showed that the 6 tag SNPs analyzed in this study were not associated with AD at the allele and genotype levels in comparison with the control group. No statistical difference was found between groups with and without behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD). Our results do not support the hypothesis that the polymorphisms of the COMT gene may be associated with susceptibility to AD with and without BPSD.