PLoS ONE (Jan 2013)

Association between an Alzheimer's Disease-Related Index and APOE ε4 Gene Dose.

  • Frank Schraml,
  • Kewei Chen,
  • Napatkamon Ayutyanont,
  • Roontiva Auttawut,
  • Jessica B S Langbaum,
  • Wendy Lee,
  • Xiaofen Liu,
  • Dan Bandy,
  • Stephanie Q Reeder,
  • Gene E Alexander,
  • Richard J Caselli,
  • Adam S Fleisher,
  • Eric M Reiman,
  • Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0067163
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 8, no. 6
p. e67163

Abstract

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BACKGROUNDWe introduced a hypometabolic convergence index (HCI) to characterize in a single measurement the extent to which a person's fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomogram (FDG PET) corresponds to that in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Apolipoprotein E ε4 (APOE ε4) gene dose is associated with three levels of risk for late-onset AD. We explored the association between gene dose and HCI in cognitively normal ε4 homozygotes, heterozygotes, and non-carriers.METHODSAn algorithm was used to characterize and compare AD-related HCIs in cognitively normal individuals, including 36 ε4 homozygotes, 46 heterozygotes, and 78 non-carriers.RESULTSThese three groups differed significantly in their HCIs (ANOVA, p = 0.004), and there was a significant association between HCIs and gene dose (linear trend, p = 0.001).CONCLUSIONSThe HCI is associated with three levels of genetic risk for late-onset AD. This supports the possibility of using a single FDG PET measurement to help in the preclinical detection and tracking of AD.