CD36 gene encodes a membrane glycoprotein (type B scavenger receptor) present on the surface of many types of cells and having multiple cellular functions ranging from angiogenesis to gustatory perception of fatty acids. Using a case control genetic association approach we have analyzed selected single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP's) in a total of 859 patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and controls and have identified the allele A in rs3211892 polymorphism of CD36 gene as significantly increasing the risk of AD. Additionally we have investigated, in the same sample of control subjects and patients, SNP's in ApoE gene and confirmed that the previously identified AD-associated SNP's indeed increased the risk and decreased the age of onset of AD as reported by others earlier. Based on the current knowledge of CD36 biochemistry we propose that the AD risk-imparting variants of CD36 alter cholesterol homeostasis, oxidation stress or induce pathological inflammatory cascades. The SNP rs3211892 has previously been associated with heart disease and other conditions but the present study is the first to identify a significant association between variations in CD36 gene and the risk of Alzheimer's disease.

Department of Epidemiology and Public Health Faculty of Medicine University of Ostrava Czechia

Discipline Anatomy and Histology and Bosch Institute School of Medical Sciences Sydney Medical School The University of Sydney NSW 2006 Australia

Institute of Animal Physiology and Genetics Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic Veveří 97 602 00 Brno Czechia

Laboratory of Neurobiology and Molecular Psychiatry Department of Biochemistry Faculty of Science Masaryk University Kotlářská 2 611 37 Brno Czechia

Physiologie de la Nutrition et Toxicologie UMR U866 INSERM Université de Bourgogne Agro Sup 6 Boulevard Gabriel Dijon 21000 France

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