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. 2019 Dec;15(12):1524-1532.
doi: 10.1016/j.jalz.2019.07.016. Epub 2019 Oct 9.

Local ancestry at APOE modifies Alzheimer's disease risk in Caribbean Hispanics

Elizabeth E Blue  1 , Andréa R V R Horimoto  2 , Shubhabrata Mukherjee  3 , Ellen M Wijsman  4 , Timothy A Thornton  5
Affiliations

Local ancestry at APOE modifies Alzheimer's disease risk in Caribbean Hispanics

Elizabeth E Blue et al. Alzheimers Dement. 2019 Dec.

Abstract

Introduction: Although the relationship between APOE and Alzheimer's disease (AD) is well established in populations of European descent, the effects of APOE and ancestry on AD risk in diverse populations is not well understood.

Methods: Logistic mixed model regression and survival analyses were performed in a sample of 3067 Caribbean Hispanics and 3028 individuals of European descent to assess the effects of APOE genotype, local ancestry, and genome-wide ancestry on AD risk and age at onset.

Results: Among the Caribbean Hispanics, individuals with African-derived ancestry at APOE had 39% lower odds of AD than individuals with European-derived APOE, after adjusting for APOE genotype, age, and genome-wide ancestry. While APOE E2 and E4 effects on AD risk and age at onset were significant in the Caribbean Hispanics, they were substantially attenuated compared with those in European ancestry individuals.

Discussion: These results suggest that additional genetic variation in the APOE region influences AD risk beyond APOE E2/E3/E4.

Keywords: APOE; Admixture; Age at onset; Alzheimer's disease; Ancestry.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.. Violin plots of ancestry proportions (vertical axis) among the Hispanic data sets.
EUR: European ancestry proportion, AFR: African ancestry proportion, AMR: Native American ancestry proportion, white dot: median, black bar: interquartile range, black line: 95% confidence interval, grey curves: kernel density plot.
Figure2.
Figure2.. Kaplan-Meier survival curves by APOE allele counts.
Pr(survival): probability of not being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Kaplan-Meier survival analyses were restricted samples with complete covariate data: 3,028 NIALOAD Europeans, 408 NIALOAD Hispanics, and 3,067 CU Hispanics.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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