Few serum proteins mediate APOE’s association with dementia

The latent variable “δ” (for “dementia”) appears to be uniquely responsible for the dementing aspects of cognitive impairment. Age, depression, gender and the apolipoprotein E (APOE) e4 allele are independently associated with δ. In this analysis, we explore serum proteins as potential mediators of APOE’s specific association with δ in a large, ethnically diverse longitudinal cohort, the Texas Alzheimer’s Research and Care Consortium (TARCC). APOE was associated only with C-Reactive Protein (CRP), Adiponectin (APN) and Amphiregulin (AREG), although the latter two’s associations did not survive Bonferroni correction for multiple comparisons. All three proteins were associated with δ and had weak potential mediation effects on APOE’s association with that construct. Our findings suggest that APOE’s association with cognitive performance is specific to δ and partially mediated by serum inflammatory proteins. The majority of APOE’s significant unadjusted effect on δ is unexplained. It may instead arise from direct central nervous system effects, possibly on native intelligence. If so, then APOE may exert a life-long influence over δ and therefore all-cause dementia risk.