(Stroke. 2001;32:1181.)
© 2001 American Heart Association, Inc.
Original Contributions |
From the Department of Neurosurgery, Helsinki University Central Hospital (T.N., J.Ö., M.N.), Helsinki, Finland; the Department of Forensic Medicine, University of Tampere and Tampere University Hospital (T.N., E.I., T.A.K., P.J.K.), Tampere, Finland; and the Department of Clinical Pathology and Forensic Medicine (P.J.K.), University of Kuopio, Kuopio, Finland.
Correspondence to Tero Niskakangas, Helsinki University Central Hospital, Department of Neurosurgery, Topeliuksenkatu 5, FIN- 00260 Helsinki, Finland. E-mail tero.niskakangas{at}hus.fi
| Abstract |
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MethodsA total of 160 consecutive patients were admitted after SAH to a neurosurgical unit. The clinical assessment after the SAH was performed with the Hunt and Hess grading scale. The severity of the bleeding as visualized on CT was assessed by Fishers grading system. Outcome was assessed with the Glasgow Outcome Scale. APOE genotypes were determined by polymerase chain reactionrestriction fragment length polymorphism.
Results126 patients
had aneurysmatic SAH, and detailed information on outcome and
APOE genotype was
available for 108 patients (86%). Sixteen (40%) of 40 patients with
APOE
4 had an unfavorable
outcome compared with 13 (19%) of 68 without the
APOE
4 allele (OR 2.8,
95% CI 1.18 to 6.77). Association was more significant after
adjustment for age, rebleeding, clinical status on admission, and CT
scan findings (OR 7.1, 95% CI 1.9 to 26.3;
P=0.0035).
ConclusionsOur findings show a significant genetic association of APOE polymorphism with outcome after spontaneous aneurysmal SAH. Genetic factors thus seem to explain a part of individual differences in the recovery of SAH.
Key Words: apolipoproteins genetics outcome subarachnoid hemorrhage
| Introduction |
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It is known that the most important factors predicting poor outcome from aneurysmal SAH are severity of initial bleeding as seen on CT scan, patients clinical condition on admission, incidence and severity of delayed ischemia, and possible surgical complications.3 11 12 Although known risk factors predict much of the patients outcome after aneurysmal SAH, there are individual differences in the recovery from hemorrhage that cannot be fully explained by the known prognostic factors.
Apolipoprotein E (apoE) is a polymorphic protein
associated with plasma lipoproteins having a special relevance to
nervous tissue, especially in nervous system
injury.13 In humans there
are 3 common alleles of the
APOE gene (
2,
3, and
4), which encode 3 isoforms of the protein (E2, E3, and E4), with
differences in
action.13 14 15 16
APOE
genotype is the most important genetic determinant of
susceptibility to Alzheimers disease, with the
APOE
4 allele in
particular being overrepresented in groups of patients with
Alzheimers
disease.17 The
APOE
4 allele has been
reported18 to be associated
with a fatal course after head injury and also, in a clinical
study,19 with poor outcome
after traumatic brain injury.
We report the results of a retrospective clinical study to assess the association of APOE genotype on outcome after aneurysmal SAH in patients treated at a neurosurgical center with population responsibility.
| Subjects and Methods |
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All patients underwent cranial CT on admission. The CT findings were classified according to the grading system of Fisher et al.21 Bilateral carotid angiography and (if clinically or radiologically indicated) vertebral angiography were performed. Patients clinical condition was classified according to the grading system of Hunt and Hess (H&H).22 Surgery for aneurysm clipping was performed within the first 3 days in patients with H&H grades IIII. Patients with expanding intracerebral hematoma were operated on immediately after angiography. To prevent vasospasm, the calcium channel blocker nimodipine (Nimotop, Bayer AG) was started after the aneurysm was diagnosed at the dose of 0.5 µg/kg per minute and continued for 8 to 12 days after the SAH and thereafter at 60 mgx6 orally up to 21 days from the SAH. If the patients condition worsened at any time during the hospitalization, a CT scan was performed to exclude rebleeding, brain infarction, or hydrocephalus.
Outcome was assessed without a knowledge of the patients APOE genotype. If the patient was not able to come to the routine follow-up examination for outcome measurement, data were collected from other hospitals involved or from the patients or relatives by a questionnaire or by phone. The study end point was the outcome assessed by the Glasgow Outcome Scale23 at the follow-up examination, by the data from other hospitals, or by questionnaire.
The study was approved by the ethical committee of The Department of Neurosurgery at Helsinki University Central Hospital. Either written or oral informed consent was obtained from the patients or, when impossible because of the patients poor clinical condition, from the relatives.
APOE
Genotyping
Samples for DNA analysis were collected
either at the arrival or afterward during the follow-up period. DNA
analysis was performed at the Department of Forensic Medicine,
University of Tampere. DNA was isolated either from
peripheral venous blood
samples24 or from buccal
epithelial cells of the
patients.25
APOE genotypes were
determined by polymerase chain
reaction,26 followed by
HhaI restriction enzyme
digestion. Finally, the digested fragments were run on 12%
polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and visualized by silver
staining. According to the APOE
genotype, patients were divided into the 2 groups whether they
had 1 or 2
4 alleles or not.
Statistical Analysis
Comparison of the outcome between the groups (with or
without the
4 allele) was done with the Fisher exact test. A
logistic regression analysis supported by odds ratios with 95%
confidence intervals was calculated with SPSS/win (version 8.0; SPSS,
Inc). Adjustment was made for age, primary H&H, rebleeding, and CT
findings. Age was included in the model as a continuous variable.
Rebleeding was classified as yes/no according to clinical and
radiological verification. CT findings were allocated to 1 of the 4
categories of Fishers
classification21 and
included as a categorical variable. The 5 categories of H&H
classification were used as a assessment of primary clinical condition
and included also as a categorical
variable.
| Results |
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There was a slight (60%) female predominance. Eighty-eight patients were treated by microsurgery and 5 by endovascular coiling; 9 patients were treated conservatively because of poor initial neurological condition or advanced age.
The distribution of
APOE genotypes closely
resembled that of the general population in Helsinki
region27 : 37% of the study
population were APOE
4
allele carriers. A total of 35 patients had 1
APOE
4 allele (32%),
whereas only 5 were homozygous for the
4 allele
(5%).
Of those 108 patients, 76 (70%) were in good clinical
condition (H&H grades IIII) on admission to hospital and 32 (30%)
were in poor condition (H&H grades IVV). The initial CT findings are
summarized in
Table 2
. On the basis of either clinical or
radiological data, there were 10 patients with rebleeding before
microsurgical clipping of the aneurysm.
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Primary clinical condition and radiological findings were
quite similar between the APOE
4negative and APOE
4positive groups (Table 2
); only rebleedings were more common in the APOE
4 negative group
(P=0.048) before definitive treatment. Aneurysm rupture peroperatively was slightly more common in patients with the
APOE
4 allele (25%
versus 16%; statistically nonsignificant), but temporary closing of
the feeding artery was more common in patients without the
APOE
4 allele (22%
versus 18%; statistically nonsignificant).
A total of 79 patients (73%) had a good recovery
(independent life), 13 (12%) were severely disabled, 3 (3%) remained
in a vegetative state, and 13 (12%) died
(Table 3
). A total of 16 (40%) of the 40 patients with APOE
4 had an unfavorable
outcome compared with 13 (19%) of the 68 patients without
APOE
4 (OR 2.82, 95% CI
1.18 to 6.77). When adjusted for age, H&H grade on admission, incidence
of rebleeding, and CT findings on admission, the association of the
4 allele with outcome was even more significant (OR 7.1, CI 1.9
to 26.3; P=0.0035). There was a
tendency of patients with the
4 allele to develop more hypodense
areas consistent with brain infarction in follow-up CT scans,
but this difference was not statistically significant
(P=0.095).
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| Discussion |
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4 allele and
poor outcome was seen already in unadjusted analysis even
though there were more rebleedings in the patient group without the
4 allele, indicating per se a poorer prognosis. After adjustment
for age, initial clinical H&H grade, CT findings, and occurrence of
rebleeding the association of
APOE genotype and
outcome from hemorrhage was even more strong. The risk of an
unfavorable outcome was 7.1 times higher among carriers of the
4
allele than patients without the
4 allele.
The methodology in our study merits some consideration. It
should be emphasized that the size of the study is limited, and there
were only 40 patients with APOE
4 allele, thus enabling a chance finding. Despite of the robust
nature of the outcome measure (Glasgow Outcome Scale), it should give
quite good assessment of the functional survival. In addition, some
patients died soon after arrival at the hospital and thus could not be
reached for the study. It could also be argued that patients with the
APOE
4 allele have had
previous age-related neuropathological changes and because of that are
more likely to recover poorly.
Despite the above considerations, our findings support
previous
studies28 29 that
have shown a trend toward worsened survival after hemorrhagic stroke in
the patients with the APOE
4
allele. In a postmortem
study,18 it has been shown
that the presence of plaque-like deposits of amyloid ß-protein in the
cerebral cortex after fatal head injury was strongly associated with
the possession of an APOE
4
allele. In clinical
studies,19 30 31
patients with APOE
4
allele have had a poorer prognosis after traumatic brain injury. In
addition, APOE genotype
is related to cognitive dysfunction after cardiopulmonary
bypass.32 However,
APOE
4 genotype was
not found to be a poor prognostic factor in ischemic
stroke.29
ApoE seems to have an active role in response to acute brain injury. The protein is synthesized by reactive astrocytes and is responsible for transporting lipids to regenerating neurons, promoting repair and construction of new cell membranes, neurites, and synapses.13 14 15 16 Three ApoE isoforms have differences in action,13 14 15 16 apoE E4 being associated with reduced growth and branching of neurites in cell culture.13 14 15 16 According to earlier findings, apoE has an antioxidant effect, with E3 being more efficient than E4, which may protect neurons.33 ApoE E4 binds more avidly than E3 to amyloid ß-protein and promotes more rapid aggregation of amyloid ß-protein into amyloid fibrils,34 which is also known to damage endothelial cells by producing superoxide radicals.35 ApoE immunoreactivity of neurons is greatly increased within a few hours of experimental ischemic injury, which is consistent with upregulation of lipid transport.36 37 38 39 Ischemia or hypoxia could so activate the process that leads to the accumulation of amyloid ß-protein in the brain40 as a component of the neuritic plaque leading to neuronal damage and dysfunction.41 42
Our study is the first to report a significant association
between APOE polymorphism
and recovery after aneurysmal SAH. This finding gives further
confirmation of the influence of
APOE genotype on
outcome from acute brain damage. Together with earlier findings
considering acute brain
trauma,19
intracerebral
hemorrhage,28 29
and recovery from posttraumatic
coma,30 it is likely that
the APOE
4 allele is a
significant determinant to the prognosis after acute central nervous
system injury with different
etiologies.
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| Acknowledgments |
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Received October 6, 2000; revision received January 20, 2001; accepted January 24, 2001.
| References |
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4 allele is associated
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Nat Med. 1995;1:135137.[Medline]
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4 allele and outcome in cerebrovascular disease.
Stroke. 1998;29:18821887.
4 genotype predicts a poor
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Neurology. 1999;52:244248.
1-antichymotrypsin and apolipoprotein E promote assembly of
Alzheimer ß-protein into filaments.
Nature. 1994;372:9294.[Medline]
[Order article via Infotrieve]
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