Apolipoprotein E genotype, Alzheimer's pathologies and related gene expression in the aged population.

We have investigated the effect of genotypes of apolipoprotein E (ApoE) on the pathologies found in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and its related gene expression in 38 aged human brains obtained from consecutive autopsied cases. ApoE2/3, -3/3, -3/4, and -4/4 were typed in those aged brains, with ApoE3/3 being most prevalent. The AD pathologies were undetectable in ApoE2/3 brains, but were frequently observed in the other ApoE groups. In ApoE3/3 brains, 55%, 34%, and 24% of the cortical sections examined showed senile plaques (SPs), neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs), and cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA), respectively. In ApoE4/4 brains, the SP formation was significantly higher. The ApoE genotype neither affected ApoE, APP, or tau mRNA level, nor the differential expression of the latter two. These results suggest that ApoE4/4 accelerates and ApoE2/3 decelerates the development of the AD pathologies in the aged brain, but this is not through alterations of the APP and tau gene expression.