Atherosclerosis is not implicated in association of APOE ε4 with AD

The e4 allele of APOE is associated with an increased risk of AD. However, the underlying mechanism by which the e4 allele promotes the onset of AD is unclear. The e4 allele is also known as a risk factor for atherosclerosis, especially of the coronary artery. Hofman et al.1 reported that indicators of atherosclerosis (i.e., vessel wall thickness and plaques of the carotid arteries on ultrasonography and the ratio of ankle-to-brachial systolic blood pressure) were associated with AD in a population-based study and that there was an interaction between APOE and atherosclerosis in the pathogenesis of AD. We studied 147 patients (age 62 to 103 years; mean ± SD, 85.5 ± 7.7 years), all Japanese, from whom frozen brain tissues were obtained at random from the autopsy series at Yokufukai Geriatric Hospital. Neurodegenerative disorders other than AD were excluded. The 147 patients consisted of an AD group (n = 48) (age 62 to 95 years; mean ± SD, 84.7 ± 7.3 years) in which the neuropathologic findings satisfied the criteria of the Consortium to Establish a …