Editor's Choice Academic Journal Main Category: Alzheimer's / Dementia Also Included In: Genetics Article Date: 10 Apr 2013 - 11:00 PDT

Current ratings for: Alzheimer's Gene Doubles Risk In African-Americans

The research, the largest analysis yet to establish genetic risk linked to late-onset Azheimer's disease in African-Americans, was undertaken by the Alzheimer's Disease Genetics Consortium and led by scientists from Columbia University Medical Center.

"Our findings strongly suggest that ABCA7 is a definitive genetic risk factor for Alzheimer's disease among African-Americans," said Richard Mayeux, MD, MS, professor and chair of Neurology at CUMC. "Until now, data on the genetics of Alzheimer's in this patient population have been extremely limited."

The ABCA7 gene plays a part in the production of lipids and cholesterol, which indicates that lipid metabolism might be a more crucial pathway for the disease in African-American individuals than in whites.

It is more common for African-Americans to experience lipid and cholesterol imbalances - which ultimately result in heart attacks, strokes, and vascular disease. Therefore, the authors explained that treatments that lower cholesterol and vascular disease could possibly be a successful way to decrease or delay Alzheimer's among this group of people.

"While we need to conduct research to determine whether reducing cholesterol will lower the chance of Alzheimer's in African-Americans, maintaining healthy cholesterol levels always has the benefit of lowering one's risk of heart attack and stroke," said Dr. Mayeux.

The experts aimed to look for genetic variants in African-Americans, who generally have an increased incidence of late-onset Alzheimer's, compared to whites residing in the same community. Alzheimer's affects approximately 5 million people aged 65 and older in the U.S., and 90% of all cases of the disease are reported to be the late-onset form.

Christiane Reitz, MD, PhD, first author and assistant professor of neurology, said:

The importance of the role of APOE-e4 in African-Americans had been unclear due to conflicting results from prior, smaller investigations.

See the rest here:
Alzheimer's Gene Doubles Risk In African-Americans

Comments are closed.