In APOE4 carriers who develop Alzheimer's disease, phospholipase A2 is upregulated to facilitate self-digestion by extracting fatty acids from myelin to produce ATP due to glucose utilization failure.

“we found out that a specific enzyme known as phospholipase a2 which is the calcium dependent version of phospholipase a2 is strongly upregulated in alzheimer's disease brains who carry the apoe4 genotype compared to non-alzheimer's disease brains who carry the apoe4 genotype so we had access to a large database of brain tissues from rush rush has one of the largest alzheimer disease research centers in the country and we looked at many enzymes and stumbled across cpla2 and showed that cpla2 is hyperactivated or phosphorylated in e4 ad brains”