Butyrylcholinesterase K variant and cerebral amyloid angiopathy.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Cholinesterases are found histochemically in the vessels affected with cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA). A gene for the K variant of butyrylcholinesterase (BCHE-K) may be associated with late-onset Alzheimer's disease (AD). In search of genetic risk factors for CAA, we investigated the association of BCHE-K with CAA. METHODS The association between the severity of CAA and BCHE-K was investigated in 155 autopsy cases of the elderly, including 48 patients with AD. RESULTS There was no significant association of BCHE-K with the severity of CAA in the total, AD, or non-AD cases. Status of the epsilon4 allele of apolipoprotein E gene did not influence the results. CONCLUSIONS Our results may suggest that BCHE-K is not a definitive risk factor for CAA in the elderly, although further study with larger samples is necessary to confirm this.