Involvement of ApoE4 in dementia with Lewy bodies in the prodromal and demented stages: evaluation of the Strasbourg cohort

AbstractApoE4 as a risk factor for dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) is still an issue. We sought to determine the involvement ofApoE4 according to different clinical parameters in our cohort of patients from Strasbourg, France. ApoE genotyping was performed on the AlphaLewyMA cohort. In this cohort, 197 patients were genotyped: 105 DLB patients, 37 Alzheimer ’s disease (AD) patients, 29 patients with AD/DLB comorbidity, and 26 control subjects (CS). The groups of patients were also classified according to the stage of evolution of the disease: prodromal or demented. We analyzed other parameters in relation toApoE4 status, such as years of education (YOE) and Alzheimer CSF biomarkers. We observed a higher proportion ofApoE4 carriers in the AD (51.4%) and AD/DLB (72.4%) groups compared to the DLB (25.7%) and CS (11.5%) groups (p <  0.0001). We found a correlation between age at disease onset and YOE in the AD group (p = 0.039) but not in the DLB group (p = 0.056). Interestingly, in the DLB group, the subgroup of patients with high YOE (≥ 11) had significantly more patients withApoE4 than the subgroup with low YOE (<  11). AD biomarkers did not seem to be impacted by the presence ofApoE4, except for A β42: DLBApoE4-positive demented patients showed a more marked A β42 decrease.ApoE4 does not appear to be a risk factor for “pure” DLB patients. These results suggest a strong link betweenApoE4 and amyloidopathy and consequently with AD. Trial registra...
Source: AGE - Category: Geriatrics Source Type: research