ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Neurol.
Sec. Neuroepidemiology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fneur.2025.1498613
This article is part of the Research TopicGenetic Insights and Diagnostic Innovations in Cerebrovascular and Cerebrospinal Fluid DisordersView all 8 articles
Association between Apolipoprotein E Gene Polymorphism and the Tortuosity of Extracranial Carotid Artery
Provisionally accepted
- Fifth People's Hospital of Chongqing, Chongqing, China
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Background It is widely recognized that the Apolipoprotein E (ApoE) exhibits a significant association with dyslipidemia and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD). The tortuous extracranial carotid artery (ECA) is a frequently encountered vascular morphological anomaly that may be associated to ischemic cerebrovascular disease.The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between ApoE gene polymorphism and the tortuosity of ECA.The clinical data and ApoE genetic test of inpatients who underwent head and neck DSA or CTA at our department between June 2020 and January 2024, were retrospectively analyzed. The tortuosity index (TI) of the ECA was measured and calculated. The included patients were analyzed using two grouping methods based on TI of the ECA: three groups determined by the tertile distribution and two groups based on the median distribution. Multivariate logistic regression analysis and Spearman rank correlation analysis were employed to investigate the correlation between ApoE genotypes and ECA tortuosity.Results A total of 238 patients were included in the study. The lowest tertile, the middle tertile and the hi ghest tertile of TI distribution encompassed 91 cases (38.2%), 65 cases (27.3%) and 82 cases (34.5%) respectively. On the other hand, there were 127 cases (53.4%) in the low median group and 111 cases (46.6%) in the high median group. Due to the rarity of the three genotypes (ε2/ε2, n = 4; ε2/ε4, n = 1; ε4/ε4, n = 1), they were excluded for further statistical analysis. After adjusting for all covariates, the genotype ε3/ε4 continued to show an independent correlation with ECA tortuosity in the tertile groups (adjusted odds ratio = 0.469, 95% confidence interval: 0.242-0.969, P = 0.025). The Spearman's rank correlation analysis revealed a significant negative correlation between the TI of ECA and ApoE gene polymorphism (in sequential order: ε2/ε3, ε3/ε3, and ε3/ε4) (rS = -0.149, P = 0.023).Our study suggested that the ε2 allele may be associated with the increased tortuosity of ECA, whereas the ε4 allele may leads to be a protective factor. The ε3 allele, as the most prevalent wild-type in human, has not exert a significant influence on ECA tortuosity.
Keywords: APOE, gene polymorphism, tortuosity, Extracranial carotid artery, Correlation
Received: 20 Sep 2024; Accepted: 25 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Wang, Li, Lu, Chen, Yang and Jin. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Ge Jin, Fifth People's Hospital of Chongqing, Chongqing, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.