Genes implicated in Alzheimers disease

Through recent scientific study, it has been found that roughly 20 different genes can affect a person's chance of developing late-onset Alzheimer's; this value is more than twice what scientists had previously thought. Alzheimer's is a neurodegenerative disorder which effects hundreds of thousands of people is is the most common form of dementia. Through a study of over 70,000 individuals, with a number of control and affected individuals, the researchers found specific DNA areas which were more common in the effected individuals. The gene APOE4 is  gene that has already been linked to late-onset Alzheimer's but about 11 other regions had been discovered that were previously unknown in the recent study.

The data on Alzheimer's shows that it is driven by changes in the brain in how neurons talk to each other, how proteins are handled in the brain, and a mixture of changes in the immune system and inflammatory responses. The biggest result from the study is the identification of a gene which is often present in individuals with an increased risk of developing Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and multiple sclerosis. If a preventative treatment is developed this gene could be incredibly useful by identifying individuals who would be more prone to the disease and they could be treated early on in life as a preventative measure.

Article:      http://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/oct/27/alzheimers-study-new-genes-implicated

Sub-Article:      http://www.news-medical.net/news/20131022/Buck-Institute-finds-link-between-ApoE4-and-anti-aging-protein-targeted-by-resveratrol-in-red-wine.aspx