Genetic Mutation Linked to Alzheimer’s Doubles Rate of Brain Tissue Loss

People who carry a genetic mutation associated with Alzheimer’s disease may develop the disease three years earlier than expected. +Alzheimer's Reading Room Scientists at the Keck School of Medicine of USC have mapped the effects of that genetic mutation, showing for the first time how the Alzheimer’s risk factor affects the living human brain. The discovery is detailed in the Oct. 17 edition of The New England Journal of Medicine alongside five other studies focused on the TREM2 gene variant, whose link to Alzheimer’s was first reported in January. Subscribe to the Alzheimer's Reading Room Email: Genetic mutation linked to Alzheimer’s disease doubles rate of brain tissue loss “Our lab studies the rate of brain tissue loss in elderly people, trying to discover factors that protect you as you age,” said Paul M. Thompson, PhD, USC professor of neurology, psychiatry, engineering, radiology and ophthalmology and the study’s principal investigator. “We have never seen such a dramatic effect as with this genetic variant. If you carry this genetic mutation, we’ve found that there is this wildfire of tissue loss in the brain.”Healthy people typically lose less than 1 percent of their brain tissue a year, offset by normal tissue generation from mental stimulation, Thompson said. Symptoms of Alzheimer’s begin to manifest when approximately 10 percent of the brain’s tissue has eroded away. “This is the first study to use brain scans to show what thi...
Source: Alzheimer's Reading Room, The - Category: Dementia Authors: Source Type: blogs