Patent ID: 8062842

Claim:
A method for determining in vitro whether a human subject is at increased risk of developing Alzheimer's disease, wherein the method comprises: (a) obtaining a biological sample from the subject; (b) detecting in the biological sample the nucleotides at positions −550, −221, +4, +154, +161, and +170 of the subject's mannan binding lectin-2 (MBL-2) gene; and (c) determining that the subject with a cytosine at position −550, a cytosine at position −221, a cytosine at position +4, a cytosine at position +154, a guanine at position +161, and a guanine at position +170 of the subject's MBL2 gene has increased risk of developing Alzheimer's disease relative to a subject that does not have a cytosine at position −550, a cytosine at position −221, a cytosine at position +4, a cytosine at position +154, a guanine at position +161, and a guanine at position +170.