International Journal of Alzheimer's DiseaseVolume 2011 (2011), Article ID 762471, 4 pagesdoi:10.4061/2011/762471

Research Article

Genetic Association between Akt1 Polymorphisms and Alzheimer's Disease in a Japanese Population

Nobuto Shibata, Tohru Ohnuma, Bolati Kuerban, Miwa Komatsu,  Hajime Baba, and Heii Arai

Department of Psychiatry, Juntendo University School of Medicine, 2-1-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8421, Japan

Received 23 September 2010; Accepted 24 May 2011

Academic Editor: Holly Soares

Copyright © 2011 Nobuto Shibata et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract.

A recent paper reported that A oligomer causes neuronal cell death through the phosphatidylinositol-3-OH kinase (PI3K)-Akt-mTOR signaling pathway. Intraneuronal A, a main pathological finding of Alzheimer's disease (AD), is also known as inhibiting activation of Akt. This study aims to investigate whether single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the Akt1 gene are associated with AD. SNPs genotyped using TaqMan technology was analyzed using a case-control study design. Our case-control dataset consisted of 180 AD patients and 130 age-matched controls. Although two SNPs showed superficial positive, Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (HWE) tests, and linkage disequilibrium (LD) analyses suggested that genetic regions of the gene are highly polymorphic. We failed to detect any synergetic association among Akt1 polymorphisms, Apolipoprotein E (APO E), and AD. Further genetic studies are needed to clarify the relationship between the Akt1 and AD.

1. Introduction

The main pathological feature of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the senile plaque containing aggregated Amyloid β peptide (Aβ). Three genes have been identified as causative genes in familial AD; the amyloid precursor protein (APP), presenilin-1, and presenilin-2 genes. Apolipoprotein E (APO E) is recognized as a genetic risk factor for familial and sporadic AD [1]. In addition, variants of the sortilin-related receptor 1 (SORL1) gene have also been associated with the disease [1, 2]. The evidence from SORL1 suggested that intraneuronal Aβ is significant in early pathogenesis for AD. Recent findings showed that Aβ oligomer is more toxic for neuronal cell [3, 4]. There is widening recognition that the phosphatidylinositol-3-OH kinase (PI3K)-Akt-mTOR signaling pathway is directly affected by Aβ and especially Aβ oligomer modulate cell survival through PI3K-Akt pathway [3, 5–7]. An impaired insulin-mediated signal transduction is one of the pathological features of neurodegenerative diseases [8]. Epidemiological studies note that type II diabetes is risk factor for late-onset AD [9]. Insulin dysfunction might be associated with Aβ and tangles [10, 11]. Intraneuronal Aβ inhibits insulin receptors signaling in neurons by interfering with the association between Akt1 to preclude Akt1 activation [12]. In AD brains, level of PI3K-Akt-mTOR would be decreased [8]. Thus current reports revealed that the dysfunction of PI3K-Akt-mTOR system affect AD pathology [9]. Although genetic variability of PI3K has been reported to affect the risk for AD [13], there are few genetic researches about Akt and AD. In this study, the association between six single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) covering the Akt1 gene and Japanese sporadic AD was investigated.

2. Materials and Methods

DNA was extracted from white blood cells using a standard method. Our sporadic Japanese AD cases (, Male : Female = 79 : 101) were obtained from department of psychiatry, Juntendo university hospital, Tokyo, Japan and department of psychiatry, Juntendo Koshigaya hospital, Saitama Japan. The mean age of the AD group (67.4, S.D. 6.2) was not significantly different from that of the control group (64.4, S.D. 6.7) by the Fisher’s exact probabilities test. All the AD cases were diagnosed according to the NINCDS-ADRDA criteria, and none had familial history of AD. The control cases (, Male : Female = 63 : 67) were obtained from healthy volunteers from among staff of our hospital with no history of dementia or other neuropsychiatric diseases. The purpose and significance of this study were explained in detail to each patient and his/her family, and all subjects provided their informed consent. The study protocol was approved by the Ethics committee of the Juntendo University School of Medicine.

Information on the single nucleotide polymorphisms SNPs was obtained from the SNP database (dbSNP) established by the National Center for Biotechnology Information. We selected the SNPs to cover the entire gene, including tagging SNPs. The chosen SNPs were validated, according to the dbSNP and have minor allele frequencies (MAF) greater than 5%. Six SNPs of the Akt1 gene were genotyped using TaqMan technology on an ABI7500 system (Applied Biosystems, Calif, USA). All probes and primers were designed by the Assay-by-Design TM service of Applied Biosystems. A standard PCR reaction was carried out using the TaqMan universal PCR master mix reagent kit in a 10 μL volume. Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (HWE) tests were carried out for all SNPs for both cases and controls. APO E genotypes for all the samples were determined according to a previous report [14]. Differences in the genotypic frequencies were evaluated using a case-control study design and applying the Fisher’s exact probabilities test.

Linkage disequilibrium (LD) between the SNPs as well as a haplotype analysis was performed using SNPAlyse version 5 (DYNACOM, Yokohama, Japan). LD, denoted as , was calculated from the haplotype frequency using the expectation-maximization algorithm. SNPs were considered to be in LD if was greater than 0.75. A case-control haplotype analysis was performed using a permutation method to obtain the empirical significance. The global values represent the overall significance of the observed versus expected frequencies of all the haplotypes considered together using the chi-squared test. The individual haplotypes were tested for association by grouping all others together and applying the chi-squared test with l df. values were calculated on the basis of 10,000 replications. All values reported are two tailed, and statistical significance was defined as <0.05. Logistic regression analyses were performed to estimate the relationship among onset of AD, APO E status, and six SNPs using SPSS software ver. 17.0 for Windows; (Chicago, Ill., USA). A value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant.

3. Results and Discussion

Our sample set has the power to detect an odds ratio of at least 1.40, assuming a significance level of 0.05, power of 0.70, and an exposure frequency of 0.25 in the controls. Although four SNPs were found to be in HWE, controls of rs2494746 and rs2494743 were not in HWE marginally. Genotypic distribution of the two polymorphisms showed significant difference between our cases and controls (Table 1). Other four SNPs Linkage disequilibrium examination showed strong LD from rs1130214 to rs2494743 and from rs3730344 to rs7140735 (Table 2). The frequency of the C-C-C-G-A-A haplotype was significantly higher in the AD group compared to controls (Table 3). Other two rare haplotypes also showed marginal association.

Table 1: Genotypic frequencies of SNPs of the Akt1 gene.

SNP
Location
Genotype
AD
Controls
value
HWE value

A/A
3
3

rs113021411
intron 1
A/C
33
45
0.002*
AD: 0.93

C/C
142
81

Controls: 0.68

C/C
77
22

rs2494746
intron 3
C/G
72
85
0.00002*
AD: 0.52

G/G
29
22

Controls: 0.04*

C/C
78
22

rs2494743
intron 3
C/T
71
85
0.00001*
AD: 0.47

T/T
29
22

Controls: 0.04*

A/A
27
20

rs2494738
intron 3
A/G
79
68
0.3
AD: 0.93

G/G
71
41

Controls: 0.91

A/A
174
126

rs3730344
intron 6
A/G
4
3
0.99
AD: 0.99

G/G
0
0

Controls: 0.99

A/A
151
114

rs7140735
intron 13
A/G
27
13
0.17
AD: 0.88

G/G
0
1

Controls: 0.99

: Statistically significant (Fisher's exact probabilities test).

Table 2: Linkage disequilibrium ( value) between SNPs.

rs1130214
rs2494746
rs2494743
rs2494738
rs3730344
rs7140735

rs1130214 (I1)

rs2494746 (I3)
1

rs2494743 (I3)
0.9728
0.9933

rs2494738 (I3)
0.0554
−0.4329
−0.4273

rs3730344 (I6)
−0.9999
1
1
0.3476

rs7140735 (I13)
0.2407
0.2742
0.2838
−1
1

Table 3: A case-control haplotype analysis for the 6 Akt1 SNPs.

Haplotype
Overall
AD
Control
Chi-square
value
Permutation value

C-C-C-A-A-A
0.3067
0.3165
0.2969
0.2694
0.6038
0.603

C-C-C-G-A-A
0.2401
0.2818
0.1779
8.8385

0.008*

C-G-T-G-A-A
0.2378
0.2236
0.26
1.0827
0.2981
0.324

A-G-T-A-A-A
0.0658
0.0449
0.0919
5.4284
0.0198
0.044*

A-G-T-G-A-A
0.0549
0.0347
0.0856
7.2736

0.028*

Rare haplotypes with frequencies less than 5% are not shown. Each nucleotide on the haplotypes represents the SNPs in the following order from left to right: rs1130214 to rs7140735. : Statistically significant.

To date, this is the first study to clarify genetic associations between common SNPs of the Akt1 gene and AD. We found that two SNPs rs2494746 and rs2494743 studied here with Japanese population were not in HWE. Haplotype analysis seemed to be positive superficially. Multiple regression analysis suggested that six SNPs of the Akt1 gene did not associate with the risk for AD and logistic regression analysis for the Akt1 SNPs, APO E and the onset of AD showed no synergetic association (data not shown). SNPs which were not in HWE make us suppose that the regions around such SNPs are highly polymorphic. These SNPs would be triallelic SNPs, or there are large deletions or insertions generally. Since we confirmed that the two SNPs are biallelic, potential large deletion or insertion might exist in the Akt1 gene. Our LD analyses also suggested that the gene consists of two distinct LD blocks. Rs2494738 was thought not to be involved in the two LD blocks. SNPs which are not in HWE with homozygote excess sometimes show positive generally. These SNPs suggest that there are potential polymorphisms including insertion or deletion associated with the disease. Reviewing our raw genotyping data, heterozygotes of control cases of those two SNPs are more frequent than estimated. Thus we guess the SNPs studied here did not affect the disease.

Previous genetic studies for schizophrenic patients are in debate [15–18]. An original report identified Akt1 as a potential schizophrenia susceptibility gene in families of European origins [19]. The additional multi-SNP haplotype analysis showed that specific haplotype is associated with lower Akt1 protein levels [20]. Controversial results have been issued for Japanese schizophrenic patients and Akt1 [15, 16, 21]. The detailed LD analysis from these Japanese studies suggested that there are two apparent LD blocks in the gene [21, 22]. These findings accord with our results. Thus the Akt1 gene is highly polymorphic, and functional SNPs might affect Akt1 levels potentially. We believe that the small size of our dataset may account for the negative results. Our dataset could detect the genetic association between APO E4 and AD. If the SNPs of the Akt1 gene affect the onset of AD, the effects would be smaller than those of APO E4. Previous studies and our findings revealed that the regions of the Akt1 gene are highly polymorphic for Japanese population.

4. Conclusion

Although our pilot study could not show a genetic association between Akt1 and AD, PI3K-Akt-mTOR system has an important role for pathophysiology of AD. Denser SNPing studies would be needed for clarifying the genetic association between Akt1 and AD. Since the relationship between Akt1 and AD remains inconclusive, a meta-analysis would be performed in the future.

Acknowledgments

This study was partially supported by the High Technology Research Center grant from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology of Japan and Sportology Center, Juntendo University Graduate School of Medicine. The authors are grateful for the technical assistance of Ms. K. Yamamoto. They have no potential conflicts. This paper is submitted for special issue on ‘Biomarkers for Dementia (Lead Guest Editor: Dr. Katsuya Urakami).

References

K. Bettens, K. Sleegers, and C. Van Broeckhoven, “Current status on alzheimer disease molecular genetics: from past, to present, to future,” Human Molecular Genetics, vol. 19, no. 1, pp. R4–R11, 2010.

E. Rogaeva, Y. Meng, J. H. Lee, Y. Gu, T. Kawarai, F. Zou, T. Katayama, C. T. Baldwin, R. Cheng, H. Hasegawa, F. Chen, N. Shibata, K. L. Lunetta, R. Pardossi-Piquard, C. Bohm, Y. Wakutani, L. A. Cupples, K. T. Cuenco, R. C. Green, L. Pinessi, I. Rainero, S. Sorbi, A. Bruni, R. Duara, R. P. Friedland, R. Inzelberg, W. Hampe, H. Bujo, Y. Q. Song, O. M. Andersen, T. E. Willnow, N. Graff-Radford, R. C. Petersen, D. Dickson, S. D. Der, P. E. Fraser, G. Schmitt-Ulms, S. Younkin, R. Mayeux, L. A. Farrer, and -. P. ST. George, “The neuronal sortilin-related receptor SORL1 is genetically associated with Alzheimer disease,” Nature Genetics, vol. 39, no. 2, pp. 168–177, 2007.

K. Bhaskar, M. Miller, A. Chludzinski, K. Herrup, M. Zagorski, and B. T. Lamb, “The PI3K-Akt-mTOR pathway regulates a oligomer induced neuronal cell cycle events,” Molecular Neurodegeneration, vol. 4, no. 1, Article ID 14, 2009.

M. L. Giuffrida, F. Caraci, B. Pignataro, S. Cataldo, P. De Bona, V. Bruno, G. Molinaro, G. Pappalardo, A. Messina, A. Palmigiano, D. Garozzo, F. Nicoletti, E. Rizzarelli, and A. Copani, “β-amyloid monomers are neuroprotective,” Journal of Neuroscience, vol. 29, no. 34, pp. 10582–10587, 2009.

Y. Nakagami, “Inhibitors of β-amyloid-induced toxicity by modulating the Akt signaling pathway,” Drug News and Perspectives, vol. 17, no. 10, pp. 655–660, 2004.

D. W. Shineman, A. S. Dain, M. L. Kim, and V. M. Y. Lee, “Constitutively active Akt inhibits trafficking of amyloid precursor protein and amyloid precursor protein metabolites through feedback inhibition of phosphoinositide 3-kinase,” Biochemistry, vol. 48, no. 17, pp. 3787–3794, 2009.

W. Q. Zhao, F. G. De Felice, S. Fernandez, H. Chen, M. P. Lambert, M. J. Quon, G. A. Krafft, and W. L. Klein, “Amyloid beta oligomers induce impairment of neuronal insulin receptors,” FASEB Journal, vol. 22, no. 1, pp. 246–260, 2008.

A. Rickle, N. Bogdanovic, I. Volkman, B. Winblad, R. Ravid, and R. F. Cowburn, “Akt activity in Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative disorders,” NeuroReport, vol. 15, no. 6, pp. 955–959, 2004.

W. Q. Zhao and M. Townsend, “Insulin resistance and amyloidogenesis as common molecular foundation for type 2 diabetes and Alzheimer's disease,” Biochimica et Biophysica Acta, vol. 1792, no. 5, pp. 482–496, 2009.

C. A. Dickey, J. Koren, Y. J. Zhang, Y. F. Xu, U. K. Jinwal, M. J. Birnbaum, B. Monks, M. Sun, J. Q. Cheng, C. Patterson, R. M. Bailey, J. Dunmore, S. Soresh, C. Leon, D. Morgan, and L. Petrucelli, “Akt and CHIP coregulate tau degradation through coordinated interactions,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 105, no. 9, pp. 3622–3627, 2008.

W. Q. Zhao, P. N. Lacor, H. Chen, M. P. Lambert, M. J. Quon, G. A. Krafft, and W. L. Klein, “Insulin receptor dysfunction impairs cellular clearance of neurotoxic oligomeric Aβ,” Journal of Biological Chemistry, vol. 284, no. 28, pp. 18742–18753, 2009.

F. F. Liao and H. Xu, “Insulin signaling in sporadic Alzheimer's disease,” Science Signaling, vol. 2, no. 74, p. pe36, 2009.

D. Liolitsa, J. Powell, and S. Lovestone, “Genetic variability in the insulin signalling pathway may contribute to the risk of late onset Alzheimer's disease,” Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, vol. 73, no. 3, pp. 261–266, 2002.

P. R. Wenham, W. H. Price, and G. Blundell, “Apolipoprotein E genotyping by one-stage PCR,” Lancet, vol. 337, no. 8750, pp. 1158–1159, 1991.

M. Ide, T. Ohnishi, M. Murayama, I. Matsumoto, K. Yamada, Y. Iwayama, I. Dedova, T. Toyota, T. Asada, A. Takashima, and T. Yoshikawa, “Failure to support a genetic contribution of AKT1 polymorphisms and altered AKT signaling in schizophrenia,” Journal of Neurochemistry, vol. 99, no. 1, pp. 277–287, 2006.

M. Ikeda, N. Iwata, T. Suzuki, T. Kitajima, Y. Yamanouchi, Y. Kinoshita, T. Inada, and N. Ozaki, “Association of AKT1 with schizophrenia confirmed in a Japanese population,” Biological Psychiatry, vol. 56, no. 9, pp. 698–700, 2004.

H. K. Lee, P. Kumar, Q. Fu, K. M. Rosen, and H. W. Querfurth, “The insulin/Akt signaling pathway is targeted by intracellular β-amyloid,” Molecular Biology of the Cell, vol. 20, no. 5, pp. 1533–1544, 2009.

N. Norton, H. J. Williams, S. Dwyer, L. Carroll, T. Peirce, V. Moskvina, R. Segurado, I. Nikolov, N. M. Williams, M. Ikeda, N. Iwata, M. J. Owen, and M. C. O'Donovan, “Association analysis of AKT1 and schizophrenia in a UK case control sample,” Schizophrenia Research, vol. 93, no. 1–3, pp. 58–65, 2007.

E. S. Emamian, D. Hall, M. J. Birnbaum, M. Karayiorgou, and J. A. Gogos, “Convergent evidence for impaired AKT1-GSK3β signaling in schizophrenia,” Nature Genetics, vol. 36, no. 2, pp. 131–137, 2004.

G. Xiromerisiou, G. M. Hadjigeorgiou, A. Papadimitriou, E. Katsarogiannis, V. Gourbali, and A. B. Singleton, “Association between AKT1 gene and Parkinson's disease: a protective haplotype,” Neuroscience Letters, vol. 436, no. 2, pp. 232–234, 2008.

T. Ohtsuki, T. Inada, and T. Arinami, “Failure to confirm association between AKT1 haplotype and schizophrenia in a Japanese case-control population,” Molecular Psychiatry, vol. 9, no. 11, pp. 981–983, 2004.

T. Toyota, K. Yamada, S. D. Detera-Wadleigh, and T. Yoshikawa, “Analysis of a cluster of polymorphisms in AKT1 gene in bipolar pedigrees: a family-based association study,” Neuroscience Letters, vol. 339, no. 1, pp. 5–8, 2003.