Gene Variant May Contribute to Alzheimer’s Disease (HealthDay)
Posted by admin on Jul 3, 2008
"This new work not only provides a more appropriate understanding of the machinery ruling to the distemper, but identifies a risk factor as an important target for therapy," said Philippe Marambaud, an assistant professor of pathology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in of recent origin York City and part of an international team of scientists that released its findings Wednesday.
Alzheimer's disease, which causes senility and can lead to end of life, affects an estimated 5.2 million Americans. The Alzheimer's Association predicted earlier this year that it will strike one in eight Baby Boomers, and that number is expected to climb as the population ages.
The disease is incurable, and treatments have a limited impact. However, scientists consider they suppose to mean how the disease develops being of the class who bits of protein called amyloid plaques clog the brain.
In the new study, published in the June 27 issue of the journal Cell, scientists from several countries studied the human genome and discovered a gene whose variations may make Alzheimer's disease more likely.
Variations of the gene, known as CALHM1, open gates on the surfaces of brain cells and permit calcium to get inner them, potentially leading to Alzheimer's disease, Marambaud said.
"If you carry this risk factor, you are at risk for developing Alzheimer's disease," although it's not guaranteed that you will get it, he said. People with a copy of a single shadow of the gene mutation appear to be 1.44 times more likely to disentangle Alzheimer's disease, with an even higher jeopardize for those with two copies of the abnormal gene.
The tools and materials "open up big avenues for exploration," Marambaud declared, allowing scientists to test whether drugs will disrupt the effects of the genetic trait.
"This is a long process. We are really at the initial steps of design," he said. "If the eccentric person idea is good, usually people think it takes seven to 10 years to design a drug that will work in humans."
Dr. Sam Gandy, chairman of the Alzheimer's Association's National Medical and Scientific Advisory Council, said he was impressed through the quality of the new exploration, but he cautioned that similar kinds of findings have turned out to be "flashes in the pan."
The research "dovetails nicely" with existing knowledge regarding calcium carbonate and the degeneration of the brain, Gandy said. Ultimately, however, the true drive firmly together of the CALMH1 gene discovery will depend on events to come genetic research, he said.
In another development involving Alzheimer's research, scientists reported this week that studies with mice be seized of helped them gain more knowledge into how a component of protein plaques appears to be directly related to the disease in some cases, but not in others.
The tools and materials could help scientists gain greater understanding into why more people — but not all — who have plaques in brain tissue appear to have symptoms of the disease.
More information
Learn more about Alzheimer's from the Alzheimer's Association.