However, despite of many previous studies investigating the role of APOE4 that confers AD risk8, fewer studies assessed the effects of APOE4 on the pathological manifestations of the disease; correlations between APOE4 allele and regional amyloid, tau, and neurodegenerative burdens in cognitively normal elderly people are not fully understood, and the few previous studies have reported inconsistent results9–13. The gene discussed is APOE; the disease is Alzheimer disease.