School of Life Science, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, China.
College of Information and Computer, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan, Shanxi, China.
Brain Imaging Behav. 2021 Apr;15(2):758-771. doi: 10.1007/s11682-020-00283-w.
The apolipoprotein E (APOE) ε4 allele is a genetic risk factor for Alzheimer's disease, whereas educational attainments have protective effects against cognitive decline in aging and patients with Alzheimer's disease. We examined the possible effects of years of education and APOE genotype on the topological properties of the functional network in normal aging, mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease. The years of education showed a significant, negative association with the local efficiency, clustering coefficient and small-worldness of functional networks in APOE ε4 noncarriers but not in ε4 carriers. These associations were mainly observed in normal aging and were reduced in mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease. Moreover, regions of the inferior frontal gyrus, temporal pole, and cuneus also showed correlations between education and nodal degree. Our findings demonstrated that the protective effects of education persist in APOE ε4 noncarriers but diminish in ε4 carriers. In addition, the protective effects of education were attenuated or reduced in the progression of Alzheimer's disease.
载脂蛋白 E（APOE）ε4 等位基因是阿尔茨海默病的遗传风险因素，而教育程度对衰老和阿尔茨海默病患者的认知能力下降具有保护作用。我们研究了受教育年限和 APOE 基因型对正常衰老、轻度认知障碍和阿尔茨海默病患者的功能网络拓扑性质的可能影响。受教育年限与 APOE ε4 非携带者的功能网络的局部效率、聚类系数和小世界特性呈显著负相关，但在 ε4 携带者中没有相关性。这些相关性主要出现在正常衰老中，在轻度认知障碍和阿尔茨海默病中则有所减少。此外，额下回、颞极和楔前叶的区域也显示出教育和节点度之间的相关性。我们的研究结果表明，教育的保护作用在 APOE ε4 非携带者中持续存在，但在 ε4 携带者中减弱。此外，在阿尔茨海默病的进展中，教育的保护作用减弱或减少。
