Genome-wide association study identifies APOE locus influencing plasma p-tau181 levels

As a promising diagnostic and prognostic biomarker for Alzheimer’s Disease (AD), plasma p-tau181 is robustly differentiated AD dementia from non-AD neurodegenerative diseases. We aimed to discover single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with plasma phosphorylated tau at threonine 181 (p-tau181) levels that affect the risk of developing AD. We carried out a genome-wide association study for plasma p-tau181 levels using participants from the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI). The thresholds of P < 5 × 10−6 was used for suggestive associations, and thresholds of P < 5 × 10−8 was used for significant associations. Subsequently, we tested whether the associations remained significant in subgroup analysis and examined the impact of SNPs on the longitudinal changes in plasma p-tau181 levels. A total of 714 eligible non-Hispanic white participants with plasma p-tau181 data were included. The most significant SNP (rs769449, P = 6.26 × 10−8) in APOE gene was suggestively associated with plasma p-tau181, which is close to the genome-wide significance threshold. The minor allele (A) of rs769449 in the APOE was associated with higher plasma p-tau181 levels in a dose-dependent fashion. Besides, rs769449- A carriers were more likely to exhibit a greater longitudinal cognitive decline (P = 0.03). Our results suggest that the AD risk variant in the APOE gene participates in the regulation of plasma p-tau181. The plasma p-tau181 concentration could be a useful endophenotype for identifying risk for AD in elderly individuals.