Study: Gene Could Be Signal Of Alzheimer's

Research Might Be A Breakthrough In Understanding Disease

(AP)  A huge international study has identified a gene that apparently can raise the risk of developing the most common form of Alzheimer's disease, a discovery that may help scientists develop new treatments.

Scientists analyzed DNA from more than 6,000 people from a variety of ethnic groups and found evidence implicating certain versions of the gene, called SORL1.

It's too soon to tell how much those gene versions raise the risk of getting Alzheimer's, or what percentage of cases they account for, the researchers said. They said the effect on risk appears to be modest.

Still, if the finding is confirmed by other scientists, it would be "a very substantial step forward in our understanding of the genetics of Alzheimer's disease," said one expert not involved in the work, Jonathan Haines of Vanderbilt University.

By shedding light on the biology of the illness, the discovery could help lead scientists to find new treatments, he and other experts said.

Up to 4.5 million Americans are estimated to have Alzheimer's, which gradually destroys memory and other mental abilities. No cure has been found.

The study, released Sunday on the Web site of the journal Nature Genetics, focused on Alzheimer's that appears after age 65, the most common type.

Only one gene, called APOE, has been firmly linked to raising susceptibility to the common form. A Harvard-based group lists about 20 other genes it considers promising candidates, based on research. Some authors of the new paper said they believe the evidence for SORL1 is unusually strong.

Experts familiar with the new work said SORL1 probably is involved in Alzheimer's, but cautioned that it will be important for other scientists to confirm that. "People will jump on it pretty fast," said Rudy Tanzi of Harvard Medical School.

Gerard Schellenberg of the University of Washington said the paper's evidence is "pretty solid, so I'm optimistic that it will be replicated."

Dr. Sam Gandy, a researcher who chairs the medical and scientific advisory council of the Alzheimer's Association, which helped finance the new study, said that he doubted SORL1 or any other gene plays as big a role in causing the disease as APOE does.

The new work was reported by Dr. Peter St. George-Hyslop of the University of Toronto, Lindsay Farrer of Boston University, Dr. Richard Mayeux of the Columbia University in New York, and others in the U.S., Germany, Israel and Japan.

The new paper implicates SORL1 in Alzheimer's in two ways. First, it shows that inheriting certain variants was associated with developing the disease in seven out of nine samples of people examined. The association appeared in African-American, Caribbean Hispanic, northern European and Israeli Arab groups.

In laboratory studies, researchers also found that when they suppressed the activity of SORL1, cells made greater amounts of amyloid beta, a substance thought to play a key role in causing Alzheimer's. Researchers believe the disease-promoting variants of SORL1 act by suppressing the gene's activity.

[consciousnes]

Does it matter who started it? What needs to be done is stop it. We are already eating and drinking too many chemicals in our food. And we wonder where cancer (abnormal cels) comes from. It has been proven for decades that man-made chemicals cause cancer, but we keep right on eating them.
Instead of preservitive chemicals and pretty color foods, we should be getting back to what our bodies were built to consume.

[bildooreilly]

Conciousness,

Go look and see who first started fluoridating water and that might give you a hint as to what it's all about.

Funny they deleted my post about reincarnation that I made yesterday....

[consciousnes]

We should also be looking at the quantity of Fluoride in the water. Past studies have indicated that the amount of Fluoride put into water not only causes Alzheimers, Dementia, and Attention Deficit Disorder, but also Osteoarthritis and a tendency for broken hips.
Studies in China and the United Kingdom have shown reduced IQ rates in our children where water is Flouridated. There is a major movement in England to stop fluoridization of their water due to such studies.
Why haven't the press in the United States picked up on this, they dig up dirt on everything else? Or could it be the American Dental Society has something to do with that?

[Free Citizen]

jontraudt, you are a paranoid. That is no way to live.

[candojj1]

This story is quite misleading. A person can determine whether they are at risk for Alzheimer's by taking a kidney stone risk analysis test. Basically, this is a urine test where a quart is collected and analyzed. There is a book that accompanies the findings. The story that was published is just another ploy to get funding for the University from the NIH or from elsewhere. What is the university supposed to say? That we don't know anything more today than we knew 5 years ago? This is pure B.S.

Studies at the University of North Dakota found that the level of radiation in the brains of Alzheimer's patients is substantially higher than in the brains f persons with no prevous evidence of neurological disorders. For details about how radon may initiate and/or hasten the progression of Alzheimer's, go to www.radonnews.org

To minimize your exposure to radon in buildings, keep the indoor air pressure equal to, or slightly higher than the pressure of gasses in the soil. NOTE: Seal air leaks on the floors of attics to prevent warm air from leaking up and creating a partial vaccuum in your home.

[johnshaft4]

This may help explain the bizarre and psycho/sociopathetic behavior of Bush/Cheney. Lets do an autopsy and find out!

[a8m3h]

years & years ago, in the '40's, there was a song with this verse in it....
"IF YOU GET TO HEAVEN BEFORE I DO,
JUST DIG A HOLE, AND PULL ME THROUGH"
don't remember the name, but that is what my husband is busy doing for me now, it has just been a year. and I have been praying for him...
You can keep your Budhist belief.