|
E-mail this page to a friend!
Alzheimer's, Dementia & Mental Health
SORL1 Gene Becomes Second Firmly Linked with
Late-Onset Alzheimer’s
Joins ApoE4 in list of key suspects for devastating
disease
Oct. 30, 2007 – Scientist have been feverishly
testing the 30,000 genes in the human genome searching for any that may
link to the risk of late-onset Alzheimer’s disease. They had confirmed
only one, until a new find was announced by the National Institute of
Health. A study funded the NIH’s National Institute on Aging supports
earlier findings that a variation in the sequence of the SORL1 gene is
the second association with AD.
| |
Related Stories |
|
| |
New Gene Variant Found in Senior Citizens with
Alzheimer's Disease
SORL1 joins ApoE4 as genetic variant for
late-onset Alzheimer's
January 15, 2007
Senior Citizens Appear to Have Exclusive Claim on
Alzheimer’s Disease
Boomers, young adults thinking they have
AD are probably wrong
January 8, 2007 – Experts are generally agreed that people with the
APOE4 gene type are at higher risk of Alzheimer’s disease. A new study
of people of from age 24 to 64 has found, however, that those who carry
this gene do not show cognitive decline until later years.
Cold Sore Virus Suspected of a Role in Causing
Alzheimer's Disease
ApoE-4 gene, leading risk factor of Alzheimer's in
senior citizens, linked with herpes
January 3, 2007
Ten Minutes of Conversation Improves Memory as Much
as Games
A friend may help you stay sharp just as much as a
daily crossword puzzle
Oct. 29, 2007
Parkinson’s Disease Treatment with Gene Therapy
Shows Promise
First such clinical trial may lead to effective
management of disease that hits mostly senior citizens
June 22, 2007
Australians Claim Low-Cost Gene Screening for
Parkinson's Disease
Seeks people for gene-sequencing trial,
Australia-wide gene-mapping study
Feb. 23, 2007
Genetics Used to Learn How People Reach 90 with Good
Mental Ability
August 10, 2006
Read the latest news
on
Alzheimer's, Dementia & Mental Health |
|
A gene variant - apolipoprotein E4 (ApoE4) - was
the first confirmed risk factor for the common form of late-onset AD,
which typically occurs after age 65.
Three mutated genes - amyloid precursor protein
(APP) and the presenilins (PS1 and PS2) - have been shown to cause rare,
early-onset, familial forms of the disease which mostly occur in middle
age.
The new NIH-supported study will be reported in the
Nov. 19, 2007, issue of NeuroReport (now online).
Identifying the genes involved in AD ultimately may
help determine who may be at greater risk and enable researchers to zero
in on pathways to develop new treatments.
Joining the NIA/NIH in funding the study were the
Canadian Institutes of Health Research and a number of private
foundations in the U.S., Canada and Japan.
Earlier this year, researchers first linked
variations in the gene SORL1 to late-onset AD. The analysis involved 14
collaborating institutions in North America, Europe and Asia, and 6,600
people who donated blood and tissue for genetic typing.
To learn more,
click here.
This new study confirms those findings and in a
novel way. Lindsay A. Farrer, Ph.D., of the Boston University School of
Medicine and colleagues accessed data from a genome-wide association
study (GWAS) recently made publicly available online by the
Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen), a nonprofit research
institute promoting genomics research.
GWAS involves rapidly scanning for markers across
the complete set of DNA of many people to find genetic variations
related to a particular disease. By analyzing TGen's data on the DNA of
1,408 cases and controls, Dr. Farrer's study replicated the findings of
the earlier studies that linked SORL1 data to late-onset AD.
"These results are especially remarkable since this
gene was not a focus of the original TGen study which generated the data
used to test our hypothesis," Farrer said.
"This is the first example of publicly available
data from a genome-wide association study to confirm the identification
of a risk factor gene," said Marcelle Morrison-Bogorad, Ph.D., director
of the Neuroscience and Neuropsychology Program at NIA.
"This shows the tremendous benefit of highly
collaborative interaction and rapid data sharing. Sample sharing greatly
increases the likelihood of finding new risk factor genes relatively
quickly and inexpensively."
Collaboration was a hallmark of the study, with
TGen conducting the GWAS using brain tissues and blood samples made
available by NIA Alzheimer Center brain banks, NIA-funded investigators,
and other collaborating institutes. The Boston University Linux Cluster
for Genetic Analysis, funded by the National Center for Research
Resources (NCRR) at the NIH, provided Dr. Farrer's group high-speed
computer analysis.
NIA leads the federal effort on understanding the
biomedical, social and behavioral aspects of aging and the problems of
older people by conducting and supporting research into these areas. For
more information on aging-related research and the NIA, visit
www.nia.nih.gov.
The NIA provides information on age-related
cognitive change and neurodegenerative disease specifically at its
Alzheimer's Disease Education and Referral (ADEAR) Center site at
www.nia.nih.gov/alzheimers. To sign up for e-mail alerts about new
findings or publications about aging or age-related cognitive decline,
please visit either Web site.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) — The
Nation's Medical Research Agency — includes 27 Institutes and Centers
and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
It is the primary federal agency for conducting and supporting basic,
clinical and translational medical research, and it investigates the
causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For
more information about NIH and its programs, visit
www.nih.gov.
>>
The Genetics of Alzheimer’s
Click to More Senior News on the
Front Page
Copyright: SeniorJournal.com |
