Association of APOE ε4 allele with survival in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Vivian E. Drory, Miriam Birnbaum, Amos D. Korczyn*, Joab Chapman

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

86 Scopus citations

Abstract

APOE ε4 allele is associated with poorer outcome in degenerative neurological diseases. Its role in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is still unclear. The aim of the present study was to further analyze the association of APOE ε4 allele with progression and survival of ALS. One hundred consecutive ALS patients (53 males) and 133 controls were genotyped for the APOE ε4 allele. The association of this allele with survival to death or tracheostomy was analyzed by Kaplan-Meier survival analysis. The frequency of the APOE ε4 allele in ALS patients was slightly higher (15.1%) than in the control group (10.9%). Patients with or without an APOE ε4 allele had a similar age of onset and frequency of bulbar onset. There was a significant shortening of the 50% probability of survival (by 32 months) in patients carrying the APOE ε4 allele (p = 0.03). In conclusion, carrying an APOE ε4 allele is a poor prognostic factor in ALS. This is compatible with a role of apolipoprotein on neuronal survival and repair.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)17-20
Number of pages4
JournalJournal of the Neurological Sciences
Volume190
Issue number1-2
DOIs
StatePublished - 2001

Keywords

  • Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
  • Apolipoprotein E ε4 allele
  • Motor neuron disease

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