Effect of the APOE-491A/T promoter polymorphism on apolipoprotein E levels and risk of Alzheimer disease: The Rotterdam Study.
The apolipoprotein E (APOE) gene is involved in lipid transport. A common polymorphism in this gene with the APOE*2, APOE*3, and APOE*4 alleles influences plasma levels of apolipoprotein E and cholesterol. Besides its role in lipid transport, the APOE*4 allele is a genetic risk factor for Alzheimer disease (AD). Recently, a polymorphism in the APOE promoter region was found to be involved in plasma apolipoprotein E levels and was found associated with AD. We studied the effect of this -491A/T promoter polymorphism on plasma apolipoprotein E levels and risk for AD in a population-based case-control study. We found that there was a modest but statistically significant effect of the -491A/T polymorphism on plasma apolipoprotein E levels independent of the APOE genotype. The lowest plasma levels were measured for the AA genotype, highest levels for the TT genotype, and intermediate levels for the heterozygotes. There was a small effect of the -491 AA genotype on AD risk that disappeared after adjusting for APOE genotypes. Our data suggest that the -491A/T polymorphism has an APOE genotype-independent effect on plasma apolipoprotein E levels but no APOE-independent effect on AD risk.
Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Erasmus Medical Center Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
G
G
Roks
M
M
Cruts
J J
JJ
Houwing-Duistermaat
B
B
Dermaut
S
S
Serneels
L M
LM
Havekes
A
A
Hofman
M M B
MM
Breteler
C
C
Van Broeckhoven
C M
CM
van Duijn
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000483:Alleles; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000097:blood / Q000235:genetics*; D001057:Apolipoproteins E / Q000097:blood / Q000235:genetics*; D004247:DNA / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D005787:Gene Frequency; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic / Q000235:genetics; D012307:Risk Factors
D001057:Apolipoproteins E; D004247:DNA