Genetic variability in SQSTM1 and risk of early-onset Alzheimer dementia: a European early-onset dementia consortium study

Meta-analysis of existing genome-wide association studies on Alzheimer's disease (AD) showed subgenome-wide association of an intronic variant in the sequestosome 1 (SQSTM1) gene with AD. We performed targeted resequencing of SQSTM1 in Flanders-Belgian AD patients selected to be enriched for a genetic background (n = 435) and geographically matched nonaffected individuals (n = 872) to investigate the role of both common and rare SQSTM1 variants. Results were extended to the European early-onset dementia cohorts (926 early-onset Alzheimer's disease [EOAD] patients and 1476 nonaffected individuals). Of the 61 detected exonic variants in SQSTM1, the majority were rare (n = 57). Rare variant (minor allele frequency