Thursday, November 13, 2014

A New Discovery May Open Doors for Possible Treatments for Alzheimer's Disease

        A group of researchers, led by Andrew J. Saykin, Psy.D and Vijay K. Ramanan, PhD, recently completed the largest genome-wide study of human memory. Andrew J. Saykin, Psy.D is the director of the Indiana Alzheimer Disease Center and the Indiana University Center for Neuroimaging. Vijay K. Ramanan is a Indiana University School of Medicine post-doctoratal researcher and a medical student. Together, Saykin and Ramanan, led a research team have identified a gene that they believe is associated with better memory performance and has not previously been associated with cognition. They found this gene as a result of analyzing genomic data and memory test from more than 14,000 older adults.

Andrew J. Saykin, Psy.D

        A change in the DNA on chromosome 2 was found to be linked to better performance on episodic memory test. Usually, a G nucleotide had replaced the more common A nucleotide in the FASTKD2 gene. This single nucleotide polymorphism was also found to be linked to a larger hippocampus and more dense grey matter. The FASTKD2 gene is found in the inner compartment of mitochondria and is responsible for producing an important protein involved in mitochondrial apoptosis.

The FASTKD2 gene is located on the long (q) arm of chromosome 2 at position 33.3. 

         Since Alzheimer's disease is associated with hippocampal atrophy and the inability to recall recent events, this drug is believed to point the way for drug developments and further studies on memory impairments caused by Alzheimer's disease. "Although the influence of FASTKD2 was modest, there are parallels to research in diabetes, cancer, and hypertension that uncovered genetic variants with similar effects that turned out to be targets for drugs that are now commonly used," Dr. Saykin said.
        This article stood out to me because a couple people close to me had Alzheimer's disease. It's amazing that even though many scientists research the same subject, new discoveries still occur frequently. This FASTKD2 gene should be researched more. Although memory is not controlled by a single gene, this SNP could possibly be the answer to a lot of questions about memory loss. It would be amazing if the FASTKD2 gene led to a drug protecting against memory related issues in Alzheimer's disease.

Main Article: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/11/141112115934.htm
Related Article: http://news.medicine.iu.edu/releases/2014/11/saykin-memory-snp.shtml

2 comments:

  1. Few relatives of mine had been unfortunately impacted by this horrible disease. It is relieving and exciting to see break through in this field. It is tragic to see your loved one unable to recall and function properly as they once had.

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  2. Although I do not personally know anyone who has/had Alzheimer's disease I have always been interested in learning more about the disease. This article was very good and certainly showed that progress is being made with memory loss and recognition. I am hopeful that this discovery will provide a significant step with Alzheimer's disease and possibly other memory loss such as those associated with severe concussions.

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