APOE genotype does not modulate age of onset in families with chromosome 14 encoded Alzheimer's disease.

A recent study has demonstrated an association of the apolipoprotein E allele epsilon 4 (APOE*4) to familial and sporadic late-onset Alzheimer's disease (AD). Also, in late-onset AD families linked to chromosome 19, the onset age decreased when the number of APOE*4 alleles increased. A similar effect of the APOE*4 genotype was observed in early-onset AD families linked to mutations in the APP gene located on chromosome 21. We assessed whether the APOE genotype had an influence on the age of onset of AD in chromosome 14 linked early-onset AD families. No significant effect of the APOE genotype on onset age could be detected.