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Increased apolipoprotein E4 allele frequency is associated with vascular dementia in the Hungarian population
J Kálmán1, A Juhász, A Császár
1Department of Neurology and Psychiatry, Albert Szent-Györgyi University Medical School, Szeged, Hungary.
Introduction:
The regulatory role of apolipoprotein E in lipid transport and metabolism was utilized to investigate the allelic association between the apolipoprotein E4 (apoE4) allele and vascular dementia (VD) in a selected sample of Hungarian patients with multiple deep subcortical infarcts and leukoaraiosis.
Material And Methods:
Thirty-four Caucasian VD cases and 79 healthy control probands were involved in this study according to the criteria of ICD-10 and NINDS-AIREN International Workshop Diagnostic Criteria. The genomic DNA was isolated from whole blood and the apoE alleles were determined by polymerase chain reaction.
Results:
The E2, E3 and E4 allele frequencies in the VD group were 5%, 76%, and 19%, respectively; and significant (P<0.03) differences were found in comparison with the data on the healthy controls (E2, 6%; E3, 87%; E4, 8%). The apoE4 allele frequency was intermediate between HC and Alzheimer's dementia group (28%).
Conclusion:
These results indicate that the apoE4 allele could be a risk factor not only for certain primary degenerative, but also for vascular dementias.