Clinical Research Apolipoprotein E Polymorphisms and the Risk of Nonlesional Temporal Lobe Epilepsy

Summary: Purpose: To evaluate whether the inheritance of the apolipoprotein E (ApoE) ~4 allele is a risk factor for noo- lesional temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE), and to determine wheth- er the newly described -491 A/T ApoE polymorphism may independently affect the risk of nonlesional TLE. Methods: The study group consisted of 63 patients (35 women and 28 men; age at onset of epilepsy, 30.6 -t 19.6 years; mean (2SD). All of them had received a diagnosis of nonle- sional TLE after a detailed clinical, electroencephalographic, and brain magnetic resonance investigation. The ApoE poly- rnorphisms were determined from blood samples by standard methods. The molecular study also was performed in 220 age- and sex-matched normal individuals. Results: There were no differences between TLE patients and controls in either allelic or genotypic frequencies of the ApoE and -491A/T polymorphisms. Moreover, no effect of ApoE or -491A/T polymorphisms was found on the age at onset and severity of epilepsy.