Association of APOE polymorphisms with disease severity in MS is limited to women.
The authors studied the association of an exon 4 (E4*epsilon2/3/4) and three promoter polymorphisms of APOE with disease course and severity stratified by gender in 221 patients with multiple sclerosis from two overlapping population-based prevalence cohorts. Women carriers of the E4*epsilon2 allele took longer to attain an Expanded Disability Status Scale score of 6 (p = 0.015) and had more favorable ranked severity scores than noncarriers (p = 0.009). There was no association in men. Alleles epsilon3 or epsilon4 and promoter polymorphisms were not associated with disease course or severity.
Departments of Neurology, Health Sciences Research, Neuroscience Program, Mayo Clinic and Foundation, Rochester, MN, USA.
O H
OH
Kantarci
D D
DD
Hebrink
S J
SJ
Achenbach
S J
SJ
Pittock
A
A
Altintas
J L
JL
Schaefer-Klein
E J
EJ
Atkinson
M
M
De Andrade
C T
CT
McMurray
M
M
Rodriguez
B G
BG
Weinshenker
D000328:Adult; D053327:Apolipoprotein E4; D001057:Apolipoproteins E / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009103:Multiple Sclerosis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000503:physiopathology; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012737:Sex Factors
D053327:Apolipoprotein E4; D001057:Apolipoproteins E