Apolipoprotein E polymorphism in Pick's disease and in Huntington's disease

The polymorphism of apolipoprotein E (apoE) has been recognized as a geneti c risk factor in different neurodegenerative disorders, with or without tau protein- related neuropathology, but few published epidemiological data ar e available as concerns the association of different apoE alleles with two relatively rare forms of dementia, Pick's disease (PiD) and Huntington's di sease (HD). In this study the frequency of the apoE4 allele was examined in 36 persons with histopathologically proven PiD and compared with that of t he apoE genotype in 28 HD probands and 79 aged healthy controls. The E4 all ele was overrepresented selectively in PiD (42%) as compared with the contr ol population (7%). No such association was found for HD probands (9%). Thi s finding lends further support to the hypothesis that the E4 genotype is n ot an Alzheimer's disease specific susceptibility factor, and that it could be present in diverse dementing disorders with tau protein related neuropa thology, such as PiD. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.