KIBRA gene variants are associated with episodic memory in healthy elderly

The first hypothesis free genome wide association study on cognition recently revealed the thus far unknown association of a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) of the KIBRA gene with episodic memory in healthy young and middle aged volunteers. Here, we report the first independent replication of this finding in an in-depth characterized sample of healthy elderly subjects. The effectsizes of the respective KIBRA SNP on memory even exceed those of the initial report. In parallel to the first study, the effect is restricted to hippocampus-related episodic memory without effects on frontal lobe function. The impact of KIBRA on memory is most likely of high relevance in elderly subjects as it is in young. (C) 2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.