Several abnormalities, including lower histamine levels in brain, elevated serum histamine and degeneration of histaminergic neurons in tuberomammillary nucleus, were described in the histaminergic system of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). Histamine is a central neurotransmitter with several functions in brain including regulation of memory, cognition, locomotion, and is degraded in part by histamine N-methyltransferase (HNMT). A common Thr105Ile polymorphism within HNMT gene results in decreased enzyme activity. The Thr105Ile polymorphism was associated with Parkinson's disease, essential tremor, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), asthma and alcoholism, thus we tested possible association of HNMT functional polymorphism with AD. We have tested 256 AD cases and 1190 healthy controls of Croatian origin. Thr105Ile polymorphism was determined by TaqMan RT-PCR Genotyping Assay and EcoRV digestion. Prevalence of functional HNMT polymorphism among all tested groups was similar and frequency of less active Ile105 variant was 11.5% among AD patients and 13.4% for healthy controls (p=0.26, X(2)=1.25). Our results indicate lack of the association of HNMT Thr105Ile functional polymorphism with Alzheimer's disease.
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