[Apolipoprotein E and tau protein in vascular dementia]

In 33 patients meeting the NINDS-AIREN criteria of possible diagnosis of vascular dementia (VD) ApoE genotype and tau protein level in cerebrospinal fluid were determined. The frequency of e4 allele occurrence in a group of VD patients was 16.6% and it was not statistically significant in comparison with control group. In the group patients with VD tau protein level in cerebrospinal fluid was 33.5 pg/ml while in the control group the level amounted to 32.5 pg/ml. The difference between these two groups was not statistically significant. The authors emphasize that ApoE e4 and tau protein level determination is not very useful in the differential diagnosis of dementia.