We provide new evidence supporting our previous linkage results on chromosome 11p15 for ND by demonstrating that APBB1 is significantly associated with ND in both AA and EA samples. Two of the three haplotypes are inversely associated with ND, suggesting they are protective against the development of ND. This provides novel evidence for the reported inverse association of smoking with AD and PD from epidemiological studies. Thus, APBB1 plays an important role in the etiology of ND, implicating its importance as a candidate gene for future investigations of ND.
