Scientists say they have identified a new genetic form of Alzheimer’s disease that underscores the urgent need for developing specialised treatment and prevention strategies.
The findings, published in the journal Nature Medicine, are based on clinical data from more than 10,000 people, as well as pathological data from more than 3,000 brain donors. “But now we know that virtually all individuals with this duplicated gene develop Alzheimer’s biology.” Dr Reisa Sperling, professor in neurology at Harvard Medical School, and director of the Centre for Alzheimer Research and Treatment at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, in the US, added: “This research really suggests that we should be treating them quite early, at a younger age and at an early stage of pathology because we know they are very likely to progress to impairment quickly.“These individuals are desperate – they have seen it in both of their parents.
And by the age of 65, almost all of them had abnormal levels of a protein known as amyloid in the fluid that surrounds the brain and spinal cord – a key sign of Alzheimer’s disease. “These individuals were more likely to develop dementia and tended to do so at a younger age than those with different APOE combinations.