Study Uncovers Genetic Factor That May Contribute to Risk of Alzheimer's

A new study from researchers at UT Health San Antonio has “uncovered a genetic factor that may contribute to the risk of late-onset Alzheimer’s disease.”

The study specifically discovered “a specific protein-coding transcript that may contribute to Alzheimer’s disease across all genetic types of apolipoprotein E (APOE), a well-known gene tied to Alzheimer’s risk with variants including ε2, ε3, and ε4. While having one or two APOE ε4 allele increases the likelihood of developing Alzheimer’s, not everyone with this allele will develop the disease, suggesting other genetic factors are at play.”

Brain samples from over 1,000 individuals of European and African descent were studied with the goal of identifying “risk factors specific to certain groups or factors that may be universally applied.” Liang Ma, the study’s leader, said that “the data shows that the risk factor, gene expression changes and polymorphisms are consistent between European and African ancestries. This suggests these are common risk factors across both populations.”

Agustin Ruiz, a co-investigator on the study, said that this discovery “not only enhances our comprehension of [APOE] function in the brain but also paves the way for novel research avenues into the underlying mechanisms of Alzheimer’s disease.”