We have tens of thousands of genes in our DNA and out of that massive gene pool a few genes can offer us answers to the mystery that is Alzheimer’s disease (AD). You may have heard about the ApoE gene and how it can predict AD risk. At the moment, ApoE is the strongest genetic predictor of AD but it does not necessarily tell us if someone will definitely have AD, or how the disease will affect their quality of life.
Because the ApoE gene does not tell us the whole story about AD, scientists are exploring other genes that may help fill in the gaps. Last year, Drs. Sims, Hill, and Williams shared their findings of how some genes may be able to predict AD. Their review is published in Nature Neuroscience (Sims, Hill, & Williams, 2020) and it explains that Alzheimer’s cannot be predicted by one single gene. Instead, we can dramatically improve the accuracy of AD predictions by using a combination of over 60 genes. When the 60+ genes are examined at the same time, scientists are able to determine whether a person will or will not have a future AD diagnosis, if that person has an extreme score. The score is calculated based on an individual’s combination of those 60+ genes.
So, “why is this important?”, you may be wondering. Well, while this information is not the final solution to curing AD it is helpful because it may allow doctors to identify individuals with a high genetic risk for AD at a younger age. This advanced warning could give someone the opportunity to participate in preventive treatments or programs way ahead of AD symptoms showing up. In cases like this, genetic predictions of AD are truly invaluable.
If you want to learn more about how PAAD2 is contributing to AD prevention, click here
You can read more about the genetic research article here