Manhattan plot of genome-wide association with plasma ApoE levels. The Red line depicts the genome-wide significance level and the blue line represents suggestive associations . DOI: 10.1038/s41380-023-02170-4
Led by Ilyas Kamboh, Ph.D., professor of human genetics and epidemiology at Pitt Public Health, the group found that, in addition to known gene variants associated with, there are at least 15 more variations in the APOE, or Apolipoprotein E, gene and other genome areas that may influence the likelihood of Alzheimer's, though more research is needed to draw definitive conclusions.
One of the most fascinating aspects of human DNA is how it is at once very stable and very variable. Someencoded in the DNA have two or more variant forms, called polymorphisms, that often differ by only a few letters of the DNA alphabet. While some of these gene variants are benign and don't influence gene function, others may be predictive of a disease risk.that confer the highest risk of Alzheimer's disease is APOE-4, a variant of a gene encoding the ApoE molecule.