Hanyang University's College of Medicine Professor Kim Hee-jin's joint research team (Konkuk University Medical Center Department of Radiology Professor Moon Won-jin and Department of Neurology Professor Moon Yeon-sil) announced in their research paper that the apolipoprotein-E ε4 gene affects the penetrance of the blood-brain barrier.

The apolipoprotein-E ε4 gene is one of the three alleles of the apolipoprotein-E ε4 gene in the 19th chromosome. If this allele exists, the risk of Alzheimer's disease is 4 times higher and the disease onset time comes faster. Also, according to the prospective cohort study carried out in Canada, all human races with the apolipoprotein-E ε4 gene have a higher risk of cardiovascular disease, cerebrovascular disease, TD dementia, and Lewy body dementia. The apolipoprotein-E ε4 allelic gene is known to induce damage on nerve cells by suppressing the release of beta-amyloid but there were divided opinions on the exact mechanism.

Professor Kim Hee-jin's research team used a dynamic-enhanced image, which is based on 3Tesla MRI, to confirm that the apolipoprotein-E ε4 gene group shows a higher penetrance of the blood-brain barrier in the hippocampus that is in charge of memory. In particular, even after changing the age, education level, and gene aberration, it was confirmed that the indicator of cognitive ability malfunction was the penetration of the blood-brain barrier and encephalography of the hippocampus.

Konkuk University Professor Moon Jin-won, who joined Professor Kim's research, said, “This research result infers that according to the gene type, the function of the blood-brain barrier, prognosis, and response to drugs can differ” and that “Damages in apolipoprotein-E ε4 gene-related blood-brain barrier functions might be a new possibility of the etiological cause of degenerative brain diseases such as Alzheimer's disease.”

Moreover, he added, “The blood-brain barrier penetration measured in the DCE image allowed measuring the early stages of genetic aberration that cannot be noticed through MRI or PET image and will play a role in gene aberration phenotypes.” He also added, “Along with brain atrophy, it will act as a vital role in image diagnosis for future Alzheimer's disease patients as an indicator of predicting cognitive ability degradation.” Meanwhile, this research was supported by the 2018 Ministry of Health-Welfare National Dementia Overcoming Technology Development Project and the 2018 National Research Foundation of Korea Midsize Research Tasks.