Apolipoprotein Eϵ4 allele, a risk factor for late onset nonfamilial Alzheimerʹs disease among Israeli Jews

Apolipoprotein (apoE) genotypes were determined in 90 Israeli Jews with late onset sporadic Alzheimerʹs Disease (AD) and in 90 age- and sex-matched non-demented controls. The percentage of subjects carrying at least one apoEϵ4 allele was 6% among the controls, and 42% among the patients (P < 0.001), indicating a strong association between late onset sporadic AD and the apoEϵ4 allele. However, no association was found between the apoEϵ4 allele in demented and non-demented Jewish Israeli patients with Downʹs syndrome or Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD). The data presented in this paper confirmed several recent reports, suggesting that the apoEϵ4 allele is a risk factor for the development of AD but not for the development of CJD or Downʹs syndrome among Israeli Jews.