Calcium homeostasis modulator 1 gene P86L polymorphism and the risk for alzheimer's disease: A meta-analysis

Objectives: Recently, many epidemiological studies have demonstrated an association between P86L polymorphism of calcium homeostasis modulator 1 (CALHM1) and risk for Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, the results of these association studies are inconsistent. In this study, we re-evaluated the relation between CALHM1 P86L polymorphism and risk for AD in a meta-analysis.

Methods: This meta-analysis was performed using the PubMed, Science Direct, Scopus and Google Scholar databases up to June 2015 using the search terms "CALHM1" and "polymorphism or SNP or variant" in combination with "Alzheimer's disease". A meta-analysis with pooled odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals was carried out to assess the associations between P86L polymorphism and the risks for Alzheimer's disease under four genetic models with fixed or random effects models.

Results: Sixteen studies (twenty-four subgroup studies involving 9795 cases and 15,335 controls) were included in our meta-analysis. Our meta-analysis results indicated that several genetic models of CALHM1 P86L polymorphism were significantly associated with increased risk for AD in overall and Caucasian populations.

Conclusions: In conclusion, our comprehensive meta-analysis indicated that P86L polymorphism is significantly associated with an increased risk for AD. Our data suggest that CALHM1 polymorphism may be potential biomarker in patients with AD.