Alzheimer’s Gene Discovery May Help Predict Age Disease Hits

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Alzheimer’s Gene Discovery May Help Predict Age Disease Hits

By Michelle Fay Cortez

July 12 (Bloomberg) -- A newly discovered gene variant may help determine who is going to get Alzheimer’s disease, and at what age the symptoms of the fatal condition that destroys the mind will start to develop.

The breakthrough comes from Allen Roses, director of the Deane Drug Discovery Institute at Duke University Medical Center, who uncovered the variants in the APOE gene that predispose carriers to Alzheimer’s disease. The new finding refines the earlier work and may be the most accurate way to predict the development and course of the disease, Roses said. About half of all cases of Alzheimer’s disease are caused by the APOE gene. Adding the new genetic variation, dubbed Tomm40, may help identify up to 85 percent of inherited cases of Alzheimer’s disease and pinpoint when symptoms will start, Roses said in a telephone interview.

“As soon as people start forgetting things, they want to know if they will get Alzheimer’s disease,” Roses said. “That is what we are getting at. While this doesn’t say everyone will get Alzheimer’s disease at these ages, it is meaningful.” The results were presented at the International Conference on Alzheimer’s Disease today in Vienna. Additional work is needed to confirm and build on the findings, which may be most beneficial at first for drug companies who are looking for high- risk people to enroll in their clinical trials, he said.

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The researchers performed a detailed genetic screening on about 35 patients with Alzheimer’s disease, and analyzed their medical history from the time their symptoms started until death. They found that while the Tomm40 and APOE genes are linked, there are key variations in the Tomm40 gene that are tied to Alzheimer’s disease development. The long version of Tomm40 is the more dangerous form, and signals an earlier onset of Alzheimer’s disease. It always seems to come with one form of APOE, known as APOE-4, the gene already shown to predisposed carriers to Alzheimer’s disease. Patients with another form, APOE-3, can get either a long version or a short version. Which one they get may help determine their Alzheimer’s history.

If a person gets APOE-3 with the long version of Tomm40 from both their parents, they are likely to get Alzheimer’s disease by age 70, Roses said. If they get one short form of Tomm40, the age of symptoms falls back to 78, he said. Two short forms mean carriers may never develop Alzheimer’s, he said.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a0kkLHdYJCU4#

[canoeist52]

1. 35 patients, huh? small study

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2. The stuedies with the APO gene have been around for more than

10 years and, I think, this study just tweaked it so 35 patients, at this point, do add to our understanding.