Apolipoprotein E (APOE) phenotype and APOE concentrations in multiple sclerosis and acute herpes zoster.
OBJECTIVE
There are three major isoforms of apolipoprotein E (apoE), namely apoE2, apoE3, and apoE4, that are products of three alleles (epsilon2,epsilon3,epsilon4) at a single gene locus on chromosome 19. It is well known that the presence of apoE4 increases the risk for the development of Alzheimer's disease and atherosclerosis. The aim of the study was to examine if apoE polymorphism or apoE levels contribute to the severity of the disease in patients with multiple sclerosis or the outcome of nerve damage in patients with herpes zoster infection.


METHODS
We examined apoE phenotype of 105 MS patients and 41 patients with herpes zoster. We also measured serum and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) levels of apoE from 93 patients with definite MS using enzyme linked immunosorbent assay.


RESULTS
There were no differences in apoE allele frequencies in MS or herpes zoster patients compared to the allele frequencies of controls. The levels of serum or CSF apoE did not differ from those of age-matched controls, nor did they correlate with the disease activity.


CONCLUSIONS
We conclude that apoE does not contribute to the activity of MS or the outcome of herpes zoster.
Pirttilä
T
T
Institute for Basic Research in Developmental Disabilities, Staten Island, NY, USA. tuula.pirttila@kuh.fi
Haanpää
M
M
Mehta
P D
PD
Lehtimäki
T
T
D000208:Acute Disease; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000483:Alleles; D001057:Apolipoproteins E / Q000097:blood / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid / Q000235:genetics*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D015870:Gene Expression; D006562:Herpes Zoster / Q000097:blood / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid / Q000235:genetics* / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009103:Multiple Sclerosis / Q000097:blood / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid / Q000235:genetics* / Q000503:physiopathology; D020528:Multiple Sclerosis, Chronic Progressive / Q000235:genetics; D010641:Phenotype; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D012720:Severity of Illness Index
D001057:Apolipoproteins E