APOE epsilon4 and Alzheimer's disease: positive association in a Colombian clinical series and review of the Latin-American studies.

OBJECTIVE

As the strength of the association between the APOE epsilon4 allele and Alzheimer's disease (AD) varies across ethnic groups, we studied if there was such an association in Colombian patients.

METHOD: We performed apolipoprotein E (APOE) genotyping in a clinical sample of 83 unrelated AD patients, predominantly late-onset (>65 yrs) including familial ( n =30) and sporadic AD cases (n= 53) diagnosed according to NINCDS-ADRDA criteria and assessed by a multi-disciplinary team. Control subjects (n = 44) had no significant cognitive impairment by medical interview and neuro-psychological testing.

RESULTS

We found a high association (OR= 5.1 95%CI 1.9 -13.6) between APOE epsilon4 and AD, in this series with predominantly late-onset cases with familial aggregation in 24 cases (28.9%). A significant negative association was found between epsilon2 and AD (OR= 0.2 95% CI 0.05-0.75).

CONCLUSION

Further population-based surveys in Colombia are warranted to precise a possible dose effect of APOE epsilon4.