Association between Alzheimer’s disease genes and trajectories of cognitive function decline in Han Chinese in Taiwan

Genetic background has been considered one of the important contributors to the rate of cognitive decline among patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD). We conducted a 4-year longitudinal follow-up study, recruited 255 AD and 44 mild cognitive impairment (MCI) patients, and used a data-driven trajectory analysis to examine the influence of selected AD risk genes on the age for and the rate of cognitive decline in Han Chinese population. Genotyping of selected single-nucleotide polymorphisms in the APOE , ABCA7 , SORL1 , BIN1 , GAB2 , and CD33 genes was conducted, and a Bayesian hierarchical model was fitted to analyze the trajectories of cognitive decline among different genotypes. After adjusting for sex and education years, the APOE ε4 allele was associated with an earlier mean change of −2.39 years in the age at midpoint of cognitive decline, the G allele in ABCA7 rs3764650 was associated with an earlier mean change of −1.75 years, and the T allele in SORL1 rs3737529 was associated with a later mean change of 2.6 years. Additionally, the rate of cognitive decline was associated with the APOE ε4 allele and SORL1 rs3737529. In summary, APOE and SORL1 might be the most important genetic factors related to cognitive decline in Han Chinese population.