Apolipoprotein E allele frequencies in patients with late-onset sporadic Alzheimer's dementia in Hungary

Introduction - The presence of the apolipoprotein E4 allele (apoE4) has been recognized as a risk factor for the development of presenile and senile forms of Alzheimer's dementia (AD). Material and methods - The apoE alleles frequency of 71 normal controls (NC), 60 demented controls (DC) and 50 senile type AD subjects was determined by polymerase chain reaction in order to get data about the apoE polymorphism of the Hungarian AD population. Results - The apoE3/3 genotype was the most common in all groups. The apoE4 frequency was significantly higher (28%) in the AD group than that was (7% and 9%) in the NC and DC populations, respectively. No apoE4 homozygotes were found in the DC group and the number of heterozygotes was lower in the DC than in the AD group. Conclusion - The results are in good agreement with others in the literature and support the occurrence of an increased apoE4 allele frequency in Hungarian senile AD population.