Breast Cancer, Alzheimer's Disease, and APOE4 Allele in the UK Biobank Cohort.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Cognitive problems are common in breast cancer patients. The apolipoprotein E4 (APOE4) gene, a risk factor for Alzheimer's disease (AD), may be associated with cancer-related cognitive decline.

Objective

To further evaluate the effects of the APOE4 allele, we studied a cohort of patients from the UK Biobank (UKB) who had breast cancer; some also had AD.

Methods

Our analysis included all subjects with invasive breast cancer. Single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) data for rs 429358 and rs 7412 was used to determine APOE genotypes. Cognitive function as numeric memory was assessed with an online test (UKB data field 20240).

Results

We analyzed data from 2,876 women with breast cancer. Of the breast cancer subjects, 585 (20%) carried the APOE4 allele. Numeric memory scores were significantly lower in APOE4 carriers and APOE4 homozygotes than non-carriers (p?=?0.046). 34 breast cancer subjects (1.1%) had AD. There was no significant difference in survival among genotypes ?3/?3, ?3/?4, and ?4/?4.

Conclusion

UKB data suggest that cognitive problems in women with breast cancer are, for the most part, mild, compared with other sequelae of the disease. AD, the worst cognitive problem, is relatively rare (1.1%) and, when it occurs, APOE genotype has little impact on survival.

SUBMITTER: Lehrer S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7902990 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature