New Alzheimer’s Gene Found
New Alzheimer’s Gene Found
April 14, 2010 (Toronto) -- A newly identified gene appears to increase a person’s risk of developing late-onset Alzheimer’s disease, the most common type of Alzheimer’s disease.
People with a particular variation in the gene, dubbed MTHFD1L, may be nearly twice as likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease as people without the variation.
Still, the absolute risk of developing Alzheimer's will be "very small" for any given individual that carries the variant, says Margaret Pericak-Vance, PhD, director of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine’s John P. Hussman Institute for Human Genomics.
The study was presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology.
Slideshow: When a Loved One Has Alzheimer's
People with a particular variation in the gene, dubbed MTHFD1L, may be nearly twice as likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease as people without the variation.
Still, the absolute risk of developing Alzheimer's will be "very small" for any given individual that carries the variant, says Margaret Pericak-Vance, PhD, director of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine’s John P. Hussman Institute for Human Genomics.
The study was presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology.
Slideshow: When a Loved One Has Alzheimer's
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