MAPT allele and haplotype frequencies in Nigerian Africans: Population distribution and association with Parkinson's disease risk and age at onset.

Introduction: The association between MAPT and PD risk may be subject to ethnic variability even within populations of similar geographical origin. Data on MAPT haplotype frequencies, and its association with PD risk in black Africans are lacking. We aimed to determine the frequencies of MAPT haplotypes and their role as risk factors for PD and age at onset in Nigerians.
Methods: The haplotype and genotype frequencies of MAPT rs1052553 were analysed in 907 individuals with PD and 1022 age-matched healthy controls from the Nigeria Parkinson's Disease Research network cohort. Clinical data related to PD included age at study, age at onset (AAO), and disease duration.
Results: The frequency of the H1 haplotype was 98.7% in PD, and 99.1% in controls (p = 0.19). The H2 haplotype was present in - 1.3% of PD and 0.9% of controls (p = 0.24). The most frequent MAPT genotype was H1H1 (PD - 97.5%, controls - 98.2%). The H1 haplotype was not associated with PD risk after accounting for gender and AAO (Odds ratio for H1/H1 vs H1/H2 and H2/H2: 0.68 (95% CI:0.39-1.28); p = 0.23).
Conclusions: Our findings support previous studies that report a low frequency of the MAPT H2 haplotype in black ancestry Africans but document its occurrence in Nigerians. The MAPT H1 haplotype was not associated with an increased risk or age at onset of PD in this cohort.
Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest R.A. is supported by the following grants: US NIH/NHGRI (U01HG010273) and the UK Royal Society/African Academy of Sciences (FLR/R1/191813). M.R. received funding from the University College London Grand challenges Small Grants (Award ID:177813 and the Michael J Fox Foundation Genetic Diversity in Parkinson's Disease 2019 (Grant ID:17483). H.H. is supported by the Michael J Fox Foundation Genetic Diversity in Parkinson's Disease (Grant ID: 17483). N.U.O. is supported by the Michael J Fox Foundation Genetic Diversity in Parkinson's Disease 2019 (Grant ID:17483) and the TETFund National Research Fund (NRF) 2019. S.B.-C., C.B. and A.S. are supported by the Intramural Research Program, National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health and US Department of Health and Human Services project ZO1 AG000949 and all these authors declare no non-financial competing interests. The remaining authors declare no competing interests.
(Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)