APOE4 Strips Brain Cells of Their Cover
New study finds that the APOE4 gene variant leads to messy cholesterol processing and myelin damage
APOE spells trouble
Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia, accounting for 60–70% of all cases. While there are many gene variants involved in determining the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, none is riskier than APOE4. If you are of Caucasian or Asian descent, carrying two APOE4 gene versions increases your risk 10–30-fold compared to the neutral APOE3; carrying one APOE4 triples the risk.
(These numbers are quite dependent on the study population. For example, certain Nigerian populations have a very high incidence of the APOE4 version, but this does not translate into more Alzheimer’s disease.)
This is not a reason to panic if you’re an APOE4 carrier. When it comes to Alzheimer’s disease, lifestyle matters, regardless of which APOE gene version lingers in your genome. Exercise, pay attention to what you eat, find a way to handle stress, and sleep well for decent brain protection.
What is it about that pesky APOE4, though? So far, APOE4 seems to do a few things: it increases the odds of misfolding proteins (the plaques and tangles), it negatively affects the blood-brain…
