title: Immunological associations in familial and non-familial Alzheimer patients and their families.
abstract: A number of autoimmune diseases and immune-related conditions were investigated in a series of 100 Alzheimer patients and their families. The group was divided into those who had familial dementia of the Alzheimer type and non-familial dementia of the Alzheimer type. HLA DR3 was associated with the familial dementia of the Alzheimer type patients. Adult exposure to tuberculosis appeared to be a risk factor for familial dementia of the Alzheimer type patients. Autoimmune diseases clustered among the non-familial dementia of the Alzheimer type patients, and also among their relatives. Asthma and infertility were also significantly increased among non-familial dementia of the Alzheimer type relatives. The analysis showed that (1) autoimmunity may be important in the sporadic form of Alzheimer disease; (2) it may be possible to confer a decreased risk for Alzheimer disease among relatives when many autoimmune diseases occur in the family; (3) it may be important to assess environmental risk factors for Alzheimer disease separately in patients with familial and sporadic disease; and (4) the efficacy of drug therapies may be dependent on whether the patients have a familial or sporadic form of Alzheimer disease.
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Memorial University, St. John's Newfoundland, Canada.
authors.forename: M F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Frecker
authors.forename: W E
authors.initials: WE
authors.lastname: Pryse-Phillips
authors.forename: H R
authors.initials: HR
authors.lastname: Strong
mesh_terms: D017668:Age of Onset; D000368:Aged; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology*; D001249:Asthma / Q000453:epidemiology; D001327:Autoimmune Diseases / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D005260:Female; D015803:HLA-DR3 Antigen / Q000032:analysis; D006801:Humans; D007246:Infertility / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D012307:Risk Factors; D014397:Tuberculosis, Pulmonary
chemical_list: D015803:HLA-DR3 Antigen