Oxidatives stress, ApoE4, and Alzheimer's disease

Lane Simonian

This is a fascinating study coming out of the Baylor College of Medicine.

The study notes the connection between oxidative stress and amyloid beta.  I will go a step further:  risk factors operating through the same pathways lead to oxidative stress and the production of amyloid beta.  Amyloid beta can in turn add to that stress especially in people with one or two copies of the ApoE4 gene.

The initial space in which amyloid and oxidative stress arise is in lipid rafts and ApoE4 increases the size of these rafts.  ApoE4 thus enhances the effects other risk factors that trigger the disease.   

https://www.bcm.edu/news/neuroprotective-mechanism-altered-by-alzheimers-disease-risk-genes

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34450034/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22950913/

Having one or two copies of the ApoE4 gene does not guarantee the development of Alzheimer's disesae, but it increases the risk particularly if other risk factors are present.