Alzheimer's Disease May Be Triggered by Age-Specific Genes

Researchers have found that an individual's likelihood to develop Alzheimer's disease is determined by different groups of genes that are related to the age at which the individual begins to experience symptoms of the disease.

Investigators at Duke University (Durham, NC, USA; www.duke.edu) employed a novel method of analysis, called "ordered subsets linkage analysis,” to perform genomic screening of 437 families in which at least two members had Alzheimer's disease. This method of screening allowed them to identify genetic regions linked to Alzheimer's disease specifically in families that differed in terms of their average age at onset but without making assumptions about how those age groups should be defined.

Results published in the November 2003 issue of the American Journal of Human Genetics revealed a region on chromosome 2 linked to Alzheimer's disease in families with a minimum age at onset between 50 and 60 years. A second region, located on chromosome 15 was associated with the disorder only in families with a minimum age at onset of 80 years. A third region on chromosome 9 was found to influence late onset Alzheimer's disease in families that experienced symptoms between the ages of 60 and 75.

"By including age at onset in our analysis using this new method, we have identified genetic regions that may be associated with Alzheimer's disease that we would not have found otherwise,” explained first author Dr. William Scott, an associate research professor at Duke University.




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