APOE4 is associated with elevated blood lipids and lower levels of innate immune biomarkers in a tropical Amerindian subsistence population.
Angela R GarcíaCaleb E FinchMargaret GatzThomas KraftDaniel Eid RodriguezDaniel CummingsMia CharifsonKenneth BuetowBret A BeheimHooman AllayeeGregory S ThomasJonathan StieglitzMichael D GurvenHillard KaplanBenjamin C TrumblePublished in: eLife (2021)
In post-industrial settings, apolipoprotein E4 (APOE4) is associated with increased cardiovascular and neurological disease risk. However, the majority of human evolutionary history occurred in environments with higher pathogenic diversity and low cardiovascular risk. We hypothesize that in high-pathogen and energy-limited contexts, the APOE4 allele confers benefits by reducing innate inflammation when uninfected, while maintaining higher lipid levels that buffer costs of immune activation during infection. Among Tsimane forager-farmers of Bolivia (N = 1266, 50% female), APOE4 is associated with 30% lower C-reactive protein, and higher total cholesterol and oxidized LDL. Blood lipids were either not associated, or negatively associated with inflammatory biomarkers, except for associations of oxidized LDL and inflammation which were limited to obese adults. Further, APOE4 carriers maintain higher levels of total and LDL cholesterol at low body mass indices (BMIs). These results suggest that the relationship between APOE4 and lipids may be beneficial for pathogen-driven immune responses and unlikely to increase cardiovascular risk in an active subsistence population.
Keyphrases
- low density lipoprotein
- cognitive decline
- high fat diet
- immune response
- oxidative stress
- mild cognitive impairment
- fatty acid
- innate immune
- adipose tissue
- type diabetes
- endothelial cells
- metabolic syndrome
- candida albicans
- heavy metals
- dendritic cells
- weight loss
- gene expression
- risk assessment
- genome wide
- toll like receptor
- bariatric surgery