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APOE genotype in cerebrovascular disease and vascular dementia
A Frank1, E Díez-Tejedor, M J Bullido
1Department of Neurology, Hospital Universitario La Paz, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Paseo de la Castellana, 261-28046 Madrid, Spain. afrank@hulp.insalud.es
Background:
The fact that the allele epsilon 4 of the Apolipoprotein E (APOE) gene could act like a risk factor not only in late-onset familial and sporadic Alzheimer's disease (AD) but also in cerebrovascular disease (CVD) and vascular dementia (VaD) is still controversial.
Methods:
In order to study if epsilon 4 allele is overrepresented not only in AD but also in CVD and VaD, APOE genotyping was undertaken in a series of 247 patients: 26 cases with VaD, 41 cases with CVD but without cognitive impairment (CVD-C), 83 cases with AD and 97 aged-matched "healthy controls" (HC).
Results:
Percentages of subjects bearing one or two copies of the epsilon 4 allele was much higher in AD patients (54%) than in either CVD-C (29%) (p<0.05), VaD (15%) (p<0.001) or HC (13%) (p<0.001).
Conclusions:
These results strengthen the hypothesis that involves the APOE epsilon 4 allele as a predisposing factor for AD, but not for CVD or VaD.