Two teams of European scientists say they have discovered new genetic variants associated with Alzheimer’s disease. The variants account for about 20 percent of the genetic risk of the disease, and may lead to a better understanding of its biology, the scientists say.
One of the teams, led by Julie Williams of Cardiff University in Wales, scanned the genomes of about 19,000 patients, the largest study so far conducted on Alzheimer’s, and turned up two variants that have a statistically significant association with the disease. A second study, led by Philippe Amouyel of the University of Lille in France, also found two variants, one of which is the same as detected by the Cardiff team.
The fact that two studies could agree on at least one gene is an advance. More than 550 genes have been proposed in various small-scale studies as the cause of Alzheimer’s, but all have failed the test of replication by others, Dr. Amouyel said.
READ MORE @ NY TIMES
Showing posts with label Alzheimer’s. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Alzheimer’s. Show all posts
Monday, September 7, 2009
Monday, July 20, 2009
Learning of Risk of Alzheimer’s Seems to Do No Harm
A genetic test that can find an increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease does no psychological harm to people who take it, even if they test positive for a risky gene, a new study finds.
The results challenge views long held by the medical establishment, which has discouraged people from being tested, arguing that the test is not definitive, that it may needlessly frighten people into thinking a terrible disease is hanging over them and that testing is pointless anyway because there is no way to cure or prevent the dementia caused by Alzheimer’s.
“There has been this extraordinary worry that disclosing risk was going to devastate people,” said Dr. Robert C. Green, a professor of neurology, genetics and epidemiology at Boston University, and the lead author of the study, which is being published on Thursday in The New England Journal of Medicine. “This has upended those assumptions.”
The idea behind the study was to treat information like a drug, something with risks and benefits that could be measured, Dr. Green said.
Dr. Green led a large team in the study, called Reveal, in which 162 adults who had a close relative with Alzheimer’s could find out if they had the genes that increased their risk for the disease. All participants had genetic testing, but 51, picked at random, were not told the results. The other 111 were told, and the two groups were compared.
READ MORE @ NY TIMES
The results challenge views long held by the medical establishment, which has discouraged people from being tested, arguing that the test is not definitive, that it may needlessly frighten people into thinking a terrible disease is hanging over them and that testing is pointless anyway because there is no way to cure or prevent the dementia caused by Alzheimer’s.
“There has been this extraordinary worry that disclosing risk was going to devastate people,” said Dr. Robert C. Green, a professor of neurology, genetics and epidemiology at Boston University, and the lead author of the study, which is being published on Thursday in The New England Journal of Medicine. “This has upended those assumptions.”
The idea behind the study was to treat information like a drug, something with risks and benefits that could be measured, Dr. Green said.
Dr. Green led a large team in the study, called Reveal, in which 162 adults who had a close relative with Alzheimer’s could find out if they had the genes that increased their risk for the disease. All participants had genetic testing, but 51, picked at random, were not told the results. The other 111 were told, and the two groups were compared.
READ MORE @ NY TIMES
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