Nicola Filippini1,2, Achim Gass3, Andreas U. Monsch4, Anil Rao5, Brandon Whitcher5, Paul M. Matthews5, Stephen Smith1
1Oxford University FMRIB Centre, Oxford, Oxon, UK; 2Dept. Psychiatry, Oxford University, UK; 3Depts. Neurology and Neuroradiology, University Hospital Basel, Switzerland; 4Memory Clinic Basel, Switzerland; 5GlaxoSmithKline, Clinical Imaging Centre, London, UK
The APOE4 allele is considered the strongest genetic risk factor for sporadic early and late onset Alzheimers disease. While the association between grey matter changes and the presence of APOE4 has been fairly well studied, little is known about the effect of APOE4 on white matter in AD. To better define specific influences on neurodegenerative processes played by APOE4, we studied grey matter and white matter changes in a group of AD patients, finding meaningful, consistent differences from both structural and diffusion imaging of the 3 relevant APOE subgroups.