ISSN 2756-3375
African Journal of Immunology Research ISSN 2756-3375 Vol. 10 (5), pp. 001-006, May, 2024. Available online at www.internationalscholarsjournals.org © International Scholars Journals
Full Length Research Paper
The Role of Apolipoprotein E4 (APOE4) Gene as a Prognostic Indicator for Dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease
Nelofar Sultana1*, Masood .A. Qureshi2, Rukhshan Khurshid3 and Fatima Shad .K.4
1Department of Physiology, Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Medical College, Karachi, Pakistan.
2Department of Physiology, Dow University of Health Sciences Karachi.
3Department of Biochemistry, Fatima Jinnah Medical College, Lahore.
4Department of Physiology, University of Darussalam, Brunei.
Accepted 20 April, 2024
Abstract
The present study aimed to determine the relationship of APOE4 with socio demographic variables as well as with co-morbidities including hypertension and diabetes mellitus. In this study, 200 subjects with dementia were recruited, out of these 200 patients APOE4 was present in 130 cases, 85 (65.4%) were male and 45 (34.6%) females. However, in 70 cases APOE4 was missing, 41 (58.6%) males and 29 (41.4%) were females. Subjects who showed absence of APOE4 were considered as control. Educational level and socioeconomic status were categorized as low, middle and high. BMI was considered as low or normal according to the standard criteria. 10 ml venous blood was obtained for genomic DNA extraction and genotyping for the Apo lipoprotein E (APOE) alleles using standard methods. A high percentage of patients with cognitive disorder showed the presence of APOE4. Among these patients males were more suffered than females. Quantitative characteristics showed that with increasing age the percentage of APOE4 was increased, however, no effect on BMI was observed compared with the presence or absence of APOE4. A direct relationship of APOE4 with diabetes was observed. In conclusion, presence of APOE4 in male patients with cognitive disorder may increase the risk of dementia/Alzheimer’s disease with middle socioeconomic status and education as well as diabetes. However no effect of BMI and blood pressure was observed.
Key words: Apo lipoprotein E4 Gene (APOE4), cognition, dementia, Alzheimer’s disease.