The apolipoprotein epsilon 4 allele in Parkinson's disease with and without dementia.
The epsilon 4 isoform of apolipoprotein E (Apo-E) may confer genetic susceptibility for familial and sporadic Alzheimer's disease (AD). Because dementia in AD and Parkinson's disease (PD) share many biologic and clinical features, we determined the Apo-E genotypes for 79 patients with PD, 22 of whom were demented, and for 44 age-matched healthy elderly controls from the same community. We hypothesized that if the dementia was similar to AD, there would be a higher allele frequency of apolipoprotein epsilon 4 (Apo epsilon 4) in demented PD patients compared with nondemented PD patients and controls. The epsilon 4 allele frequency for PD without dementia was 0.132, for PD with dementia, 0.068, and for controls, 0.102. There was no association between Apo epsilon 4 and dementia in the PD patients. We conclude that the biologic basis for dementia in PD may differ from that of AD.
G.H. Sergievsky Center, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032.
K
K
Marder
G
G
Maestre
L
L
Cote
H
H
Mejia
B
B
Alfaro
A
A
Halim
M
M
Tang
B
B
Tycko
R
R
Mayeux
D000368:Aged; D000483:Alleles; D001057:Apolipoproteins E / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D003704:Dementia / Q000150:complications*; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D007536:Isomerism; D008297:Male; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000150:complications* / Q000235:genetics*; D012016:Reference Values
D001057:Apolipoproteins E