A collection of blood samples used by researchers in Iceland to find a gene mutation that seems to protect against Alzheimer’s disease.Jon GustafssonA collection of blood samples used by researchers in Iceland to find a gene mutation that seems to protect against Alzheimer’s disease.
The Times reports today that researchers in Iceland have discovered a gene mutation that appears to protect those who inherit it from Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of cognitive decline. Scientists are hailing the discovery as a milestone in the desperate search for effective treatments. Gina Kolata reports:
The protective mutation also is very rare — it is not the reason most people do not develop Alzheimer’s disease. But what intrigues researchers is how it protects the brain. It does the reverse of what the mutations that cause Alzheimer’s do. Those mutations lead to excessive amounts of a normal substance, beta amyloid, in the brain. The protective mutation slows beta amyloid production, so people make much less.
The discovery, published online on Wednesday in the journal Nature, provides strong evidence that beta amyloid buildup is a driving force in this destructive brain disease. It also bolsters the hopes of drug companies that have zealously developed drugs to reduce amyloid levels with the expectation they might alter the course of the disease or even prevent it. So far, the drugs have not succeeded, but companies and many researchers have argued that there are reasons for that and that it is too soon to give up on them.
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