Lack of association between apolipoprotein E promoters in epsilon4 carriers and worsening on computed tomography in early stage of traumatic brain injury.

We investigated the relationship between apolipoprotein E (APOE) promoters (G-219T, C-427T, A-491T) polymorphisms, and worsening CT results in early stage of traumatic brain injury (TBI) in a previously reported cohort of Chinese patients. Radiographic evidence of hemorrhage extension or delayed hemorrhage in acute stage (< 7 days after TBI) was judged by serial CT scanning compared to that on admission. APOE genotyping was performed by means of PCR-RFLP. Chi2 test and logistic regression analyses were done using SPSS software. Of 110 Chinese patients, 19 presented with deteriorated clinical condition in acute stage after hospitalization. Among these 19 patients, serial CT scanning revealed 3 cases with hemorrhage extension and 2 cases with delayed hemorrhage. Chi2 test showed no statistical differences in radiographic worsening/stabilization between the APOE epsilon4(+) and APOE epsilon4(-) groups (p = 0.170 > 0.05). Furthermore, no significant correlation between intracranial bleeding based on CT scanning with genotype or with haplotype frequencies for A-491T, C-427T, or G-219T was found by chi2 test (p > 0.05). In Chinese population, our data do not support the hypothesis that genetic variations within the APOE gene are associated with CT worsening in early stage of TBI.