The Complicated Interplay of Alzheimer’s Risk and Genetics

Alzheimer’s dementia is expected to affect nearly 14 million people by 2050 (Herbert et al. 2013). The primary genetic factor associated with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the ε4 allele, which is one of the three common isoforms of the ApoE gene (Kim et al. 2009). The three isoforms of this gene are ApoE2, ApoE3, and ApoE4. ApoE2 appears to be protective against the development of Alzheimer’s disease by delaying the potential onset by about five years, whereas those prese…