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Apolipoprotein E Polymorphism Is Associated with Both Senile Plaque Load and Alzheimer‐Type Neurofibrillary Tangle Formation a
Author(s) -
MÄRZ W.,
SCHARNAGL H.,
KIRÇA M.,
BOHL J.,
GROß W.,
OHM T. G.
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
annals of the new york academy of sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.712
H-Index - 248
eISSN - 1749-6632
pISSN - 0077-8923
DOI - 10.1111/j.1749-6632.1996.tb34432.x
Subject(s) - senile plaques , apolipoprotein e , alzheimer's disease , neurofibrillary tangle , pathology , allele , tangle , disease , degenerative disease , cognitive decline , apolipoprotein b , medicine , biology , gene , genetics , dementia , cholesterol , mathematics , pure mathematics
Recent work provided evidence that the apolipoprotein (apo) E polymorphism is associated with late‐onset sporadic Alzheimer's disease. The major histological hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease are the extraneuronal deposition of A4/β‐amyloid and the intraneuronal formation of neurofibrillary tangles, the latter correlating strongly with the psychometric status. We examined the relationship between the apo E polymorphism and Alzheimer's disease‐related histological changes using a staging system which accounts for the progression of the disease over time and correlates well with the cognitive decline ante mortem. We observed a significant positive correlation between both neurofibrillary changes and A4/β‐amyloid deposits and the ε4 gene dose. We estimated that the presence of one apo E4 allele leads to an earlier onset of the histopathological process of about one decade. The association of both types of Alzheimer's disease‐related changes with the prevalence of the ε4‐allele suggests that the apo E polymorphism causally contributes to the development of Alzheimer's disease.