Although single nucleotide polymorphisms rs429358 and rs7412 in the
apolipoprotein E gene (APOE) are widely investigated to analyze APOE
alleles, there are no data on their association with Alzheimer?s disease
(AD) dementia in a Serbian population. This study aimed to investigate the
distribution of APOE ?2/?3/?4 alleles in patients with dementia due to AD
and cognitively unimpaired subjects and to assess the association of the
APOE ?4 allele with disease risk in the Serbian population. A case-control
study included patients with dementia due to AD and cognitively unimpaired
individuals. APOE rs429358 and rs7412 were analyzed using the Real-Time PCR
method with allelespecific TaqMan assays, followed by APOE ?2/?3/?4 allele
carrier status analysis. Patients had a significantly higher frequency of
the APOE ?4 allele than the control group (P<0.001). The APOE ?4 allele was
found to be associated with a 3-fold higher risk of AD dementia compared to
the reference ?3 allele (P<0.001). In conclusion, this is the first study to
suggest that carriers of the APOE ?4 allele have a higher risk of developing
dementia due to AD than those who carry the APOE ?3 allele in the Serbian
population.