Association of APOE with age at onset of sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a neurodegenerative syndrome with familial and sporadic forms. We conducted a study including 60 sporadic and 19 familial ALS patients, 206 reference patients with other neurological disorders and 1265 neurologically healthy controls to assess the Alzheimer-associated apolipoprotein E (APOE) epsilon 4 gene variant as a possible risk factor for ALS. While no major influence of APOE FA on disease risk was detected, a gene dose-dependent effect with lower age at onset of sporadic ALS in epsilon 4 carriers was found (p=0.027). These data support APOE M as a subordinate contributing factor in ALS. (c) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.