Five New Alzheimer’s Genes Double Total as Doctors Unravel Disease Cause

[TECH NEWS]

Five new genes have been definitively linked to Alzheimer’s disease, doubling the total confirmed by scientists and opening new areas for research into an illness that affects 35 million people globally. The genetic pathways were reported in two studies involving more than 50,000 people worldwide. Some of the connections found involve systems that control inflammation and cholesterol in the brain, while others affect how brain cells remove toxic proteins, the researchers wrote in reports published April 2 in the journal Nature Genetics. The newest confirmed genes raise risks for Alzheimer’s by 15 percent or less, not strong enough to be used as a marker for the disease, researchers said. Their worth is in suggesting new areas of study that may one day help speed creation of therapies for a malady that progressively destroys brain cells and makes it difficult for people to think, remember and function. “We are beginning to piece together the jigsaw and gain new understanding,” said lead researcher Julie Williams, a professor from Cardiff University’s Centre for Neuropsychiatric Genetics and Genomics in Wales. “We still have a long way to go, but the jigsaw is beginning to come together.”

4/3/2011, Bloomberg