Dose effect of allele {epsilon}4 of apolipoprotein E on risk and age at onset of Pick disease

Journal Article · Thu Sep 01 04:00:00 EDT 1994 · American Journal of Human Genetics

OSTI ID:133453

Farrer, L A; Abraham, C ^[1]; Volicer, L ^[2]

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1. Boston Univ., MA (United States)
2. E.N. Rogers V.A. Hospital, Bedford, MA (United States); and others

Pick disease (PD) is a rare progressive dementing illness characterized by severe atrophy of the frontal and temporal lobes. Brains of PD patients lack neurofibrillary tangles which are characteristic findings of Alzheimer disease (AD), but display neuronal swelling and argyrophilic inclusions (i.e., Pick bodies) which contain phosphorylated neurofilaments, tau and complex lipids. Clinically, PD is often difficult to distinguish from AD. The fact that PD is often familial and the evidence suggesting that the {epsilon}4 allele of apoE is a risk factor for AD and multi-infarct dementia prompted us to study apoE isoforms in PD. ApoE genotypes were evaluated in an autopsy series of cases (19 AD, 15 PD, and 7 {open_quotes}controls{close_quotes} with other or no pathology). All subjects were unrelated except for 2 brothers who both had PD. Age at onset in the PD patients ranged from 41 to 59 years. The frequency of {epsilon}4 is significantly higher among AD subjects (47.4%) than in Pick cases (23.3%; P=0.4) or controls (7.1%; P=.008), but the 16% difference between PD and control subjects was not significant, perhaps due to small sample sizes. Linear regression analysis showed that the number of {epsilon}4 alleles was inversely related to age at onset of PD (P=.04) and accounted for 27% of the variation in age at onset. These results suggest that {epsilon}4 may be a susceptibility factor for dementia and not specifically AD. Preliminary experiments using an antibody against apoE suggest that Pick bodies may be immunoreactive with this antibody and that apoE binds to abnormal filaments. The association of the {epsilon}4 allele with dementias other than AD and the apoE staining results support a model postulating an interaction between the {epsilon}4 isoform and tau.

• OSTI ID: 133453
• Report Number(s): CONF-941009--
• Journal Information: American Journal of Human Genetics, Journal Name: American Journal of Human Genetics Journal Issue: Suppl.3 Vol. 55; ISSN AJHGAG; ISSN 0002-9297
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

55 BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE
BASIC STUDIES
AGE DEPENDENCE
APOLIPOPROTEINS
ATROPHY
BRAIN
GENES
GENOTYPE
MUTATIONS
NERVOUS SYSTEM DISEASES
PATIENTS
PHENOTYPE