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The apolipoprotein-4 gene: always harmful?

Correspondence to:
T W Teasdale, Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen, Øster Farimagsgade 5, 1353 Copenhagen K, Denmark; tom.teasdale@psy.ku.dk

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

It has now long been established that the apolipoprotein epsilon 4 allele (APOE-4) on chromosome 19 constitutes a genetic risk factor for the development of Alzheimer’s disease.¹ Since that discovery, APOE-4 has also often been implicated as being harmful in acquired types of brain injury including traumatic injury² at least in the short term. Willemse-van Son et al’s evidence (see page 10.1136/jnnp.2007.129460) is reported to suggest, however, that APOE-4 can be associated with better, not worse, outcome following traumatic brain injury.³

What is distinctive in the design of their careful study is, first, that they followed traumatic brain injury patients up to 3 years post injury and, second, that they used a broad measure of outcome functioning. Their striking finding is that a group of patients carrying APOE-4 had, in the long term, a significantly better outcome, as measured by the Glasgow Outcome . . . [Full text of this article]

Relevant Article

Association between apolipoprotein-4 and long-term outcome after traumatic brain injury

A H P Willemse-van Son, G M Ribbers, W C J Hop, C M van Duijn, and H J Stam
J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatry 2008 79: 426-430. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]