Abstract:

Objective   To study the different distribution of the neprilysin (NEP) gene rs3736187 polymorphisms in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and normal healthy people. Methods   120 patients with MCI and 120 normal controls were examined with the neuropsychological test which included the mini-mental state examination (MMSE), activities of daily living scale (ADL), global deterioration scale(GDS) and Hachinski ischemic scale(HIS).  NEP gene polymorphism was analyzed by PCRrestriction fragment length polymorphism technique. Case-control analysis was adopted to analyze frequencies of the genotype and allele. Results  (1) Distribution of genotypes and alleles of the NEP gene had significant differences between the MCI group and the control group. Frequency of the T allele in the MCI group was higher than that in the normal controls (P＜0.05). (2)　People carrying the T allele had a higher incidence of MCI than people with the C allele (OR=2.212, P＜0.05). (3)　The frequency of the T allele in female patients was higher than that in female controls (P＜0.05). Conclusion  The T allele of NEP may be one of the risk factors of MCI, and may play a significant role in the incidence of MCI in females.

Key words: Cognition disorders; Polymorphism， single nucleotide； Neprilysin gene