Alzheimer's Disease Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Alzheimer's Disease, including details on diagnosis, memory loss, heredity, treatment, medication.

Genetic association between the APOE*4 allele and Lewy bodies in Alzheimer disease.

Tsuang DW, Wilson RK, Lopez OL, Luedecking-Zimmer EK, Leverenz JB, DeKosky ST, Kamboh MI, Hamilton RL

Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Washington, Seattle, USA. dwt1@u.washington.edu

OBJECTIVE: To explore the association between APOE*4 and pathologically confirmed cases of the Lewy body (LB) variant of Alzheimer disease (AD). METHODS: With use of alpha-synuclein (AS) immunohistochemistry, LBs were detected in 74 of 131 (56.5%) of the AD + LB cases; the remaining 57 cases (43.5%) did not have LBs. RESULTS: There were no differences in gender or age between Caucasian subjects with AD + LB or AD alone or control subjects. The APOE*4 allele frequency was highest in the AD + LB group (47.3%; 95% CI = 37.8 to 57.0%), intermediate in the AD-alone group (35.1%; 95% CI = 25.3 to 46.3%), and lowest in the control group (14.2%; 95% CI = 10.5 to 18.9%). With use of logistic regression analysis, the odds of having AD + LB vs AD alone were 2.1-fold (95% CI = 1.0 to 4.5, p = 0.055) greater in persons with an APOE*4 allele than in those without an APOE*4 allele. CONCLUSION: The APOE*4 allele is associated with the presence of concomitant Lewy bodies in Alzheimer disease.

Published 8 February 2005 in Neurology, 64(3): 509-13.
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