Clinical features and alterations in the inferior horn sizes in lateral ventricle in Alzheimer's patients with different ApoE genotype in Japanese population

1. E4 allele of Apolipoprotein E (ApoE) is considered to be not only a risk factor for Alzheimer's disease (AD) but also a determinant of clinical features in AD. However, it is still controversial whether ApoE e4 allele is related to age at onset, severity of memory impairment or brain morphological changes in AD patients. 2. The present study examined the issue in Japanese population: 1) ApoE genotype on in 38 normal controls and 32 AD patients; 2) association between e4 allele of ApoE and clinical features including Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised in 32 AD patients; and 3) association between e4 allele of ApoE and change in size of inferior horn in lateral ventricle (LV) in 13 out of 32 AD patients. 3. The e4 allele of ApoE frequency was higher in AD patients than in normal controls. There was no significant difference in age at onset or neuropsychological results between AD with and without e4 allele of ApoE. Alteration per month of the inferior horn sizes in LV measured by MRI was similar in the AD patients with and without e4 allele of ApoE. 4. These results suggest that e4 allele of ApoE is a risk factor but not a determinant of clinical features for AD in Japanese population.