Genetic Protection Against AD

 

EurekAlert has this news item about a study on the genetic variant which protects the brain from AD.

A sample from the news item:

The researchers discovered the protective variant in people who never developed symptoms but who had inherited the e4 form of the APOE gene, which significantly increases the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. 

“These resilient people can tell us a lot about the disease and what genetic and non-genetic factors might provide protection,” says study co-leader Badri N. Vardarajan, PhD, assistant professor of neurological science (in neurology, the Gertrude H. Sergievsky Center, and the Taub Institute), who is an expert in using computational approaches to discover Alzheimer’s disease genes. 

"We hypothesized that these resilient people may have genetic variants that protect them from APOEe4.” 

To find protective mutations, the Columbia researchers sequenced the genomes of several hundred APOEe4 carriers over age 70 of various ethnic backgrounds, including those with and without Alzheimer's disease. Many participants were residents of Northern Manhattan who were enrolled in the Washington Heights/Inwood Columbia Aging Project, an ongoing study that has been conducted by Columbia University’s Department of Neurology for more than 30 years.

Cheers, 

Colin