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NEW YORK - Scientists have identified a gene that may raise the risk of getting the most common kind of Alzheimer’s disease by about 45 percent in people who inherit a certain form of it.

That form of the gene appears to hamper a brain cell’s ability to charm in calcium carbonate, researchers said. If drugs can be found that countermand its effect, they may be useful in fighting Alzheimer’s, researchers aforesaid.

Most cases of Alzheimer’s appear after mature years 65. So far, only one gene has been firmly established as affecting the risk of this late-onset version. The gene proposed in the new study, called CALHM1, appears to have a much smaller impact on the disease exposure to harm.

Dozens of other genes are also under study for the reason that possibly affecting risk of the illness.

The new work appears Friday’s issue of the journal Cell. The work is reported by Philippe Marambaud of the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research in Manhasset, N.Y., and others in the United States and elsewhere.

They studied the gene with given conditions from more than 2,000 commonalty with Alzheimer’s and over 1,400 people without the disease.