What does heritability of Alzheimer's disease represent?

<h4>Introduction</h4>Both late-onset Alzheimer's disease (AD) and ageing have a strong genetic component. In each case, many associated variants have been discovered, but how much missing heritability remains to be discovered is debated. Variability in the estimation of SNP-based he...

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Main Authors: Emily Baker, Ganna Leonenko, Karl Michael Schmidt, Matthew Hill, Amanda J Myers, Maryam Shoai, Itziar de Rojas, Niccoló Tesi, Henne Holstege, Wiesje M van der Flier, Yolande A L Pijnenburg, Agustin Ruiz, John Hardy, Sven van der Lee, Valentina Escott-Price
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2023-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0281440&type=printable
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author Emily Baker
Ganna Leonenko
Karl Michael Schmidt
Matthew Hill
Amanda J Myers
Maryam Shoai
Itziar de Rojas
Niccoló Tesi
Henne Holstege
Wiesje M van der Flier
Yolande A L Pijnenburg
Agustin Ruiz
John Hardy
Sven van der Lee
Valentina Escott-Price
author_facet Emily Baker
Ganna Leonenko
Karl Michael Schmidt
Matthew Hill
Amanda J Myers
Maryam Shoai
Itziar de Rojas
Niccoló Tesi
Henne Holstege
Wiesje M van der Flier
Yolande A L Pijnenburg
Agustin Ruiz
John Hardy
Sven van der Lee
Valentina Escott-Price
author_sort Emily Baker
collection DOAJ
description <h4>Introduction</h4>Both late-onset Alzheimer's disease (AD) and ageing have a strong genetic component. In each case, many associated variants have been discovered, but how much missing heritability remains to be discovered is debated. Variability in the estimation of SNP-based heritability could explain the differences in reported heritability.<h4>Methods</h4>We compute heritability in five large independent cohorts (N = 7,396, 1,566, 803, 12,528 and 3,963) to determine whether a consensus for the AD heritability estimate can be reached. These cohorts vary by sample size, age of cases and controls and phenotype definition. We compute heritability a) for all SNPs, b) excluding APOE region, c) excluding both APOE and genome-wide association study hit regions, and d) SNPs overlapping a microglia gene-set.<h4>Results</h4>SNP-based heritability of late onset Alzheimer's disease is between 38 and 66% when age and genetic disease architecture are correctly accounted for. The heritability estimates decrease by 12% [SD = 8%] on average when the APOE region is excluded and an additional 1% [SD = 3%] when genome-wide significant regions were removed. A microglia gene-set explains 69-84% of our estimates of SNP-based heritability using only 3% of total SNPs in all cohorts.<h4>Conclusion</h4>The heritability of neurodegenerative disorders cannot be represented as a single number, because it is dependent on the ages of cases and controls. Genome-wide association studies pick up a large proportion of total AD heritability when age and genetic architecture are correctly accounted for. Around 13% of SNP-based heritability can be explained by known genetic loci and the remaining heritability likely resides around microglial related genes.
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spelling doaj-art-51b3981e072d44fe9ab7932f0edb784c2025-08-20T03:46:19ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032023-01-01184e028144010.1371/journal.pone.0281440What does heritability of Alzheimer's disease represent?Emily BakerGanna LeonenkoKarl Michael SchmidtMatthew HillAmanda J MyersMaryam ShoaiItziar de RojasNiccoló TesiHenne HolstegeWiesje M van der FlierYolande A L PijnenburgAgustin RuizJohn HardySven van der LeeValentina Escott-Price<h4>Introduction</h4>Both late-onset Alzheimer's disease (AD) and ageing have a strong genetic component. In each case, many associated variants have been discovered, but how much missing heritability remains to be discovered is debated. Variability in the estimation of SNP-based heritability could explain the differences in reported heritability.<h4>Methods</h4>We compute heritability in five large independent cohorts (N = 7,396, 1,566, 803, 12,528 and 3,963) to determine whether a consensus for the AD heritability estimate can be reached. These cohorts vary by sample size, age of cases and controls and phenotype definition. We compute heritability a) for all SNPs, b) excluding APOE region, c) excluding both APOE and genome-wide association study hit regions, and d) SNPs overlapping a microglia gene-set.<h4>Results</h4>SNP-based heritability of late onset Alzheimer's disease is between 38 and 66% when age and genetic disease architecture are correctly accounted for. The heritability estimates decrease by 12% [SD = 8%] on average when the APOE region is excluded and an additional 1% [SD = 3%] when genome-wide significant regions were removed. A microglia gene-set explains 69-84% of our estimates of SNP-based heritability using only 3% of total SNPs in all cohorts.<h4>Conclusion</h4>The heritability of neurodegenerative disorders cannot be represented as a single number, because it is dependent on the ages of cases and controls. Genome-wide association studies pick up a large proportion of total AD heritability when age and genetic architecture are correctly accounted for. Around 13% of SNP-based heritability can be explained by known genetic loci and the remaining heritability likely resides around microglial related genes.https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0281440&type=printable
spellingShingle Emily Baker
Ganna Leonenko
Karl Michael Schmidt
Matthew Hill
Amanda J Myers
Maryam Shoai
Itziar de Rojas
Niccoló Tesi
Henne Holstege
Wiesje M van der Flier
Yolande A L Pijnenburg
Agustin Ruiz
John Hardy
Sven van der Lee
Valentina Escott-Price
What does heritability of Alzheimer's disease represent?
PLoS ONE
title What does heritability of Alzheimer's disease represent?
title_full What does heritability of Alzheimer's disease represent?
title_fullStr What does heritability of Alzheimer's disease represent?
title_full_unstemmed What does heritability of Alzheimer's disease represent?
title_short What does heritability of Alzheimer's disease represent?
title_sort what does heritability of alzheimer s disease represent
url https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0281440&type=printable
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