APOLIPOPROTEIN-E POLYMORPHISM IN PATIENTS WITH ALZHEIMERS-DISEASE, VASCULAR DEMENTIA AND ISCHEMIC CEREBROVASCULAR-DISEASE

Apolipoprotein E epsilon 4 allele (ApoE epsilon 4) is associated with Alzheimer's disease (AD) in familial and sporadic cases, but the assoc iations of ApoE epsilon 4 allele and vascular dementia (VD) and/or isc hemic cerebrovascular disease (ICVD) are still controversial. To clari fy the associations of ApoE polymorphism with AD, VD and ICVD in Japan ese, we examined ApoE polymorphism in samples of 255 patients with AD, 87 patients with VD, and 123 patients with ICVD, as compared with 117 age-matched healthy control subjects (CTL). The frequency of the ApoE epsilon 4 allele was significantly higher in the VD group (0.21), the ICVD group (0.15) as well as in the AD group (0.26) than in the CTL s ubjects (0.08). These findings suggest that the genotype of ApoE epsil on 4 is associated with not only AD but also VD and ICVD, and that Apo E epsilon 4 plays an important role in the development of dementia and ICVD.