Study Finds Sex Influences CSF Tau Levels in ApoE4 Carriers

11 May 2018

The apolipoprotein E4 (ApoE4) allele, the strongest known genetic risk factor for late-onset sporadic Alzheimer’s disease, puts women at higher risk for the disease than men, but how remains unclear. Now, a large meta-analysis of genetic, biomarker, and autopsy data from 10 longitudinal cohorts indicates that ApoE4 raises CSF tau in women more than in men, particularly in people with amyloid. Other markers of AD pathology—CSF Aβ, or plaques and tangles—showed no such effect of sex in E4 carriers. The study, led by Timothy Hohman, Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, appeared in the May 7 JAMA Neurology.