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ApoE alleles, depression and positive affect in multiple sclerosis

Department of Medicine, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA laura.julian{at}ucsf.edu

L Vella

San Francisco VA Medical Center, San Francisco, CA, USA

D Frankel

Abt and Associates Inc, Cambridge, MA, USA

SL Minden

Abt and Associates Inc, Cambridge, MA, USA; Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA and Abt Associates Inc, Cambridge, MA, USA

JR Oksenberg

Department of Neurology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA

DC Mohr

Department of Preventative Medicine, Northwestern University, Hines VA Medical Center, Chicago, IL, USA

Background

The role of apolipoprotein E (ApoE) alleles has received recent attention in depressive disorders, the ApoE 4 conferring greater risk for poorer outcomes, and the ApoE 2 allele providing some protective effects. Depression is common in multiple sclerosis (MS) and the role of ApoE alleles is unknown.

Aims

To evaluate ApoE alleles in relation to symptoms of depression in a cohort of patients with MS participating in the Sonya Slifka Longitudinal Multiple Sclerosis Study (Slifka Study). To examine risk and protection, depressed mood and positive affect were each investigated with respect to the ApoE 4 and ApoE 2 alleles, respectively.

Results

Of the total 101 participants, 22.8% were ApoE 2 carriers and 21.8% were ApoE 4 carriers. Hierarchical linear regression analyses suggested that after controlling for demographics, disease duration, and disability, ApoE 2 significantly predicted increased positive affect (R2 = 0.05, F(1,94) = 5.44, P = 0.02) and was associated with decreased severity of depressive symptoms, although this did not reach statistical significance (R2 = 0.03, F(1,94) = 3.44, P = 0.06). ApoE 4 did not significantly predict depression status.

Conclusion

The presence of the ApoE 2 allele in this study is suggested to be protective against depressive symptoms in our subsample of patients recruited from the Slifka Study. These findings are consistent with reports in psychiatric populations linking ApoE 2 with decreased incidence of depressive disorders. Further investigation would be warranted to understand the role of ApoE genotypes and risk for depressive symptoms.

Key Words: genetics • multiple sclerosis • quality of life

Multiple Sclerosis, Vol. 15, No. 3, 311-315 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/1352458508099478


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