APOE gene polymorphism in long-lived individuals from a central China population

Abstract

Previous studies from European and East Asian cohorts reported conflicting results over whether and how the frequencies of the three common alleles, ε2, ε3 and ε4, of the apolioprotein E gene (APOE), in long-lived individuals differ from those in younger age groups. This study was the first to analyse these frequencies of long-lived individuals from central China. Genotyping of APOE alleles and genotypes was carried out in 70 long-lived individuals and 204 younger controls. No difference in the frequency of any APOE allele or genotype was found between the long-lived participants and their younger controls, but the long-lived group seemed to have a higher ε4 frequency (15.71%) than the 24–50 and 51–75 age groups (10.2% and 11.32%, P > 0.05). Notably, when compared with two other Chinese studies, the central China long-lived group had a higher ε4 frequency than its southern and eastern China counterparts (15.71% vs. 2.82% and 2.54%, P < 0.05). It is not clear to what extent population substructure or lifestyles contributed to these divergent findings. A clear understanding of the contribution of APOE polymorphisms to longevity in the Han Chinese population may be achieved only through large scale studies with participants from well-defined regional clusters.

A meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies identifies multiple longevity genes

“…Genetic variation in APOE is well known to be associated with longevity and lifespan, with the first report more than two decades ago in a small candidate gene study 27 . Since then, there have been numerous candidate gene studies, including individuals of diverse ancestry, which have identified associations of ApoE with longevity 28–32 . However, thus far, rs7412, the ApoE ε2-defining, genetic variant has not been reported to show a genome-wide significant association in GWA studies of longevity and lifespan.…”