ACE, MTHFR, factor V Leiden, and APOE polymorphisms in patients with vascular and Alzheimer's dementia

Background and Purpose - There is a growing interest in the use of genetic markers in the differential diagnosis of dementia. In the current study we examined the usefulness of genetic risk factors for vascular disease as markers for vascular dementia (VD). Methods - The groups included 41 patients with VD, 49 patients with dementia of the Alzheimer's type, and 40 age-matched control subjects without dementia. These patients were genotyped for vascular disease-associated polymorphisms in the genes coding for methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR), angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE), factor V Leiden (FVL), and a common genetic risk factor for AD, apolipoprotein E ε4 (APOE ε4). Results - There was no significant association between ACE, MTHFR, and FVL genotypes with VD whether compared with subjects with AD or with control subjects. There was a higher frequency of APOE ε4 alleles in patients with AD (30%, P=0.016) and VD (26%, P=0.07) compared with control subjects (15%). Conclusions - VD is not associated with the genetic risk factors for vascular disease examined in this study, indicating that the pathogenesis of VD may differ from other vascular diseases.