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Abstract
Objective: To determine whether elderly normal APOE E2 (APOE2) carriers exhibit slower rates of hippocampal atrophy and memory decline compared to APOE3/3 carriers. We also determined whether APOE2 carriers have less Alzheimer pathology as reflected by CSF biomarkers.
Methods: We included longitudinal data from 134 cognitively normal individuals (27 APOE2/2 or E2/3, 107 APOE3/3) from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative, a prospective cohort study. A linear mixed-effects model was used to determine how APOE2 affected rates of hippocampal atrophy and cognitive change over time. In a subsample of 72 individuals who also underwent CSF analysis, an ordinary least-squares regression was used to determine whether CSF β-amyloid (Aβ), total tau, and phosphorylated tau-181 (p-tau) differed by APOE2 status.
Results: APOE2 carriers demonstrated slower rates of hippocampal atrophy (p = 0.004). The mean rate of hippocampal atrophy among APOE2 carriers was −33 mm3/year (95% confidence interval −65 to +0.4), or −0.5%/year, compared to −86 mm3/year (95% confidence interval −102 to −71), or −1.3%/year, in the APOE3/3 group. No differences in the rates of episodic memory (p = 0.23) or overall cognitive change (p = 0.90) were detected. In the CSF subsample, APOE2 carriers had higher levels of CSF Aβ (p = 0.01), lower p-tau (p = 0.02), and marginally lower tau (p = 0.12).
Conclusion: A slower rate of hippocampal atrophy in normal APOE2 carriers is consistent with the lower risk of Alzheimer disease in these individuals. We hypothesize that the slower atrophy rate is related to decreased preclinical Alzheimer pathology.
Footnotes
Study funding: Supported by the NIH (NIBIB T32 EB001631-05, P41 RR023953, P30 AG010129, and K01 AG030514) and the Dana Foundation. Data collection and sharing for this project was funded by the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) (National Institutes of Health Grant U01 AG024904). ADNI is funded by the National Institute on Aging, the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, and through contributions from the following: Abbott, AstraZeneca AB, Bayer Schering Pharma AG, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Eisai Global Clinical Development, Elan Corporation, Genentech, GE Healthcare, GlaxoSmithKline, Innogenetics, Johnson and Johnson, Eli Lilly and Co., Medpace, Inc., Merck and Co., Inc., Novartis AG, Pfizer Inc., F. Hoffman-La Roche, Schering-Plough, Synarc, Inc., and Wyeth, as well as nonprofit partners the Alzheimer's Association and Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation, with participation from the US Food and Drug Administration. Private sector contributions to ADNI are facilitated by the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (www.fnih.org). The grantee organization is the Northern California Institute for Research and Education, and the study is coordinated by the Alzheimer's Disease Cooperative Study at the University of California, San Diego. ADNI data are disseminated by the Laboratory for Neuroimaging at the University of California, Los Angeles.
-
- Aβ
- β
- amyloid; AD
- Alzheimer disease
- ADAS-Cog
- Alzheimer' s Disease Assessment Scale Cognitive Subscale
- ADNI
- Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative
- MCI
- mild cognitive impairment
- MPRAGE
- magnetization-prepared rapid gradient echo
- p-tau
- phosphorylated tau-181
- WMS-R
- Wechsler Memory Scale–Revised.
Editorial, page 1952
Supplemental data at www.neurology.org
A complete listing of ADNI investigators is available on the Neurology® Web site at www.neurology.org.
- Received April 28, 2010.
- Accepted August 3, 2010.
- Copyright © 2010 by AAN Enterprises, Inc.
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