Genome-scan for bipolar disorder with sib-pair families in the Sardinian population: a new susceptibility locus on chromosome 1p22-p21?

The discovery of the genetic factors implicated in the predisposition to complex diseases may greatly profit from genetic studies in isolated populations. In this perspective, we performed a genome-wide scan using 507 microsatellite markers, with an average interval size of 7.6 cM, on a sample of 88 nuclear families with at least two affected sibs with bipolar disorder recruited in the Sardinian population.

No replication of genetic association between candidate polymorphisms and Alzheimer's disease.

Alzheimer's disease is a genetically complex disorder, for which new putative susceptibility genes are constantly proposed in the literature. We selected 16 candidate genes involved in biological pathways closely related to the pathology, and for which a genetic association with Alzheimer's disease was previously detected: ACE, BACE1, BDNF, ECE1, HSPG2, IDE, IL1a, IL6, IL10, MAPT, PLAU, PrnP, PSEN1, SORL1, TFCP2 and TGFb1. The variants originally associated with the disease were genotyped in a French Caucasian sample including 428 cases and 475 controls and tested for association in order to replicate the initial results.