Pharmacogenomics in Alzheimer’s disease: a genome-wide association study of response to cholinesterase inhibitors

We conducted a genome-wide association study in a cohort of 176 Italian Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients with extreme phenotype of response to cholinesterase inhibitors. Patients were classified into responders in case of positive, stable, or ≤1 worsening of mini-mental state examination score and into nonresponders if >3 points worsening during a median follow-up of 0.85 years of treatment. Forty-eight single-nucleotide polymorphisms were selected for replication in 198 additional AD-treated patients. By using the dichotomous response trait and a quantitative trait approach (change of mini-mental state examination), a nominal replication and evidence of association when combining data were achieved for 2 single-nucleotide polymorphisms associated with response to treatment: rs6720975A (pcombined = 2.9 × 10-5, beta regression coefficient: 1.61) and rs17798800A (pcombined = 6.8 × 10-6, odds ratio = 0.38, 95% confidence interval = 0.25-0.58). Rs6720975 maps in the intronic region of PRKCE, a protein kinase involved in several cellular functions, whereas rs17798800 is intergenic and, according to expression quantitative trait locus (eQTL) analysis, it acts as a cis-regulator of NBEA, an A kinase-anchoring protein playing a substantial role in the maturation of the nervous system. Despite its limitations, this project paves the way for the application of personalized medicine in AD patients and for collaborative efforts in this field.