ApoE epsilon 4 allele and cognitive decline in patients with Alzheimer's disease

Abstract

Many clinical and basic studies have confirmed an association between the apolipoprotein E (apoE) epsilon 4 allele and the development of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Corder et al. [1] reported that survival from onset was unrelated to epsilon 4 gene dose. In this issue, Kurz et al. [2] report that no association of the apoE epsilon 4 allele with cognitive decline was found in AD subjects. We examined the relationship between apoE alleles and the rate of cognitive decline in a longitudinal study of up to 3 years. Between February and October 1992, 105 subjects with probable AD diagnosed on the basis of NINCDS-ADRDA [3] criteria entered the study. All the subjects underwent a …