APOLIPOPROTEIN-E POLYMORPHISM IS NOT ASSOCIATED WITH LONGEVITY OR DISABILITY IN A SAMPLE OF ITALIAN OCTOGENARIANS AND NONAGENARIANS

Background: Apolipoprotein E (apo E) is a protein associated with plas ma lipoproteins. Apo E polymorphism has been related to significant mo difications of lipoprotein profile, as well as to the incidence of dif ferent pathologies including cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer's disea se, and vascular dementia. Furthermore, it was proposed that apo E pol ymorphism might be involved in the aging selection process. Objective: The purposes of the present study were the following: (1)to evaluate apo E polymorphism in 'successful' and 'unsuccessful' aging, defined a s the absence or presence of disability and severe chronic diseases (m ainly cardiovascular disease and dementia), respectively; (2) to evalu ate the impact of apo E polymorphism on plasma lipids in very old indi viduals free of or affected by disability. Methods: 253 Italian subjec ts including 100 free-living healthy octo- and nonagenarians, 62 disab led octo-and nonagenarians, and 91 healthy adult controls, all matched for origin were studied. Apo E phenotypes were determined by PhastSys tem (Pharmacia). Lipoprotein parameters (total cholesterol, triglyceri des, HDL-cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, lipoprotein (a), and apoprotein A-I and B) were measured by standardized methods. ADL were evaluated by the Katz index. Results: The frequency of epsilon 2, epsilon 3, and epsilon 4 alleles was 0.062, 0.887, and 0.051 respectively in the ent ire sample; no differences in alleles distribution were found between the three groups. When the subjects were divided according to the E ty pe (E2 type: E2/E2 and E2/E3; E3 type: E3/E3; E4 type: E3/E4 and E4/E4 ), no differences in lipoprotein parameters emerged, but a trend towar d higher total and LDL cholesterol from the E2 to the E4 type was obse rved. The E4 allele had a raising effect, while E2 had a lowering effe ct on total cholesterol levels, but these effects were much less profo und in the disabled octo- and nonagenarians. Conclusions: We conclude that (1) the frequency of the epsilon 4 allele is very low in this sam ple of subjects from central Italy; (2) no differences emerged in E4 d istribution between healthy and disabled octo- and nonagenarians, and adult controls; the very low frequency of epsilon 4 allele might contr ibute to this finding; (3) our data do not support the hypothesis of a possible association between apo E polymorphism and longevity or disa bility in this population.