• Mikael Wikgren, Thomas Karlsson, Therese Nilbrink, Katarina Nordfjäll, Johan Hultdin, Kristel Sleegers, Christine Van Broeckhoven, Lars Nyberg, Göran Roos, Lars-Göran Nilsson, Rolf Adolfsson, and Karl-Fredrik Norrback.
• Division of Psychiatry, Department of Clinical Sciences, Umeå University, SE-901 87 Umeå, Sweden. mikael.wikgren@psychiat.umu.se
• Neurobiol. Aging. 2012 Feb 1; 33 (2): 335-44.

AbstractBoth leukocyte telomere length and the apolipoprotein ε4 allele have been associated with mortality, cardiovascular disease, cognition, and dementia. The authors investigated whether leukocyte telomere length was associated with APOE genotype or cognitive abilities in the context of APOE genotype. The setting for this cross-sectional study was 427 nondemented individuals aged 41-81 yr. The authors found that ε4 carriers overall exhibited significantly longer telomeres compared with non-carriers (difference of 268 bp, p = 0.001). This difference was greatest at the lower limit of the age span and nonsignificant at the upper limit, which translated into a significantly higher telomere attrition rate (p = 0.049) among ε4 carriers (37 bp/years) compared with non-carriers (21 bp/year). Further, longer telomeres among ε4 carriers significantly predicted worse performance on episodic memory tasks. No significant associations were found on tasks tapping semantic and visuospatial ability, or among ε3/ε3 carriers. In conclusion, APOE ε4 carriers had longer telomeres compared with non-carriers, but higher rate of attrition. Among them, longer telomeres predicted worse performance on episodic memory tasks. These observations suggest that the ε4 allele is associated with abnormal cell turnover of functional and possibly clinical significance.Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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