APOE4 gene variant, memory loss and Alzheimer’s Disease risk

A study published in the July 16 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine indicates that people who inherit the ApoE4 gene allele are likely to experience signs of early dementia.  815 subjects were followed for about five years, 317 of which were carriers of the APOE4 Gene SNP, and 498 noncarriers.  “Longitudinal decline in memory in carriers began before the age of 60 years and showed greater acceleration than in noncarriers (P=0.03), with a possible allele–dose effect (P=0.008). We observed similar although weaker effects on measures of visuospatial awareness and general mental status.” —  “Conclusions Age-related memory decline in APOE 4 carriers diverges from that of noncarriers before the age of 60 years, despite ongoing normal clinical status(ref).“

For some time, abnormalities in the APOE gene has been known to be associated with susceptibility to dementia and Alzheimer’s disease(ref)(ref).  Aberrations in that gene have also been associated with susceptibility to multiple sclerosis(ref). Back in 2000, a project was set up to investigate common SNPs in the APOE gene and to look at dementia-related disease associations(ref).  One perception was that there was a relationship between the presence of APOE4, mitochondrial and oxidative damage and cognitive dysfunction.  “The results suggest that mitochondrial/oxidative damage may be more important for the cognitive dysfunction in AD patients who carry APOE4 than in those who do not(ref).”  Later it was confirmed that mitochondrial dysfunction and the TOM40 gene are also associated with accumulation of amaloid and the development of Alzheimer’s Disease(ref). 

Until recently, however, it was not clear how the presence of the APOE4 Gene variant impacted on the prognosis for developing Alzheimer’s Disease.  “In research presented Sunday at the International Conference on Alzheimer’s Disease in Vienna, Dr. Roses and his team looked at the area of DNA surrounding the APOE gene. They found that a gene linked to APOE called TOMM40 had mutations that involved a small number of extra copies of a particular building block of DNA in some individuals and a large number of extra copies in others.” – “Individuals with the large number of extra copies — known as the “long repeat” version of TOMM40 — coupled with APOE3 develop Alzheimer’s an average of seven years earlier — about age 70 — compared with APOE3 individuals with a “short repeat” version of TOMM40(ref).”  The extra-copy alteration in TOMM40 is known as a copy number variation (CNV).  The recent blog post Gene variations and diseases – far from simple provides an overview of CNVs and how they can affect disease conditions.

And, in case you are confused, as near as I can tell TOM40 and TOMM40 appear to be different names for the same gene.

About Vince Giuliano

Being a follower, connoisseur, and interpreter of longevity research is my latest career, since 2007. I believe I am unique among the researchers and writers in the aging sciences community in one critical respect. That is, I personally practice the anti-aging interventions that I preach and that has kept me healthy, young, active and highly involved at my age, now 93. I am as productive as I was at age 45. I don’t know of anybody else active in that community in my age bracket. In particular, I have focused on the importance of controlling chronic inflammation for healthy aging, and have written a number of articles on that subject in this blog. In 2014, I created a dietary supplement to further this objective. In 2019, two family colleagues and I started up Synergy Bioherbals, a dietary supplement company that is now selling this product. In earlier reincarnations of my career. I was Founding Dean of a graduate school and a full University Professor at the State University of New York, a senior consultant working in a variety of fields at Arthur D. Little, Inc., Chief Scientist and C00 of Mirror Systems, a software company, and an international Internet consultant. I got off the ground with one of the earliest PhD's from Harvard in a field later to become known as computer science. Because there was no academic field of computer science at the time, to get through I had to qualify myself in hard sciences, so my studies focused heavily on quantum physics. In various ways I contributed to the Computer Revolution starting in the 1950s and the Internet Revolution starting in the late 1980s. I am now engaged in doing the same for The Longevity Revolution. I have published something like 200 books and papers as well as over 430 substantive.entries in this blog, and have enjoyed various periods of notoriety. If you do a Google search on Vincent E. Giuliano, most if not all of the entries on the first few pages that come up will be ones relating to me. I have a general writings site at www.vincegiuliano.com and an extensive site of my art at www.giulianoart.com. Please note that I have recently changed my mailbox to vegiuliano@agingsciences.com.
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