A study by researchers from Harvard Medical School has turned up more genes associated with a person’s risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.
They have determined that 4 areas of the genome, previously not believed to be home to genes containing risk factors for the disease actually do contain Alzheimer’s genes, and say that by noting this it may improve treatment options.
Alzheimer’s is a degenerative brain disease that eventually leads to patient death.
Writing in the American Journal of Human Genetics the research team explain how they analyzed the data pertaining to 1300 families to reach their conclusion.
Chromosome 14 appears to be the one area that contains the most genes linked to Alzheimer’s disease.
“We are on the cusp of a rare ’science moment’ that could alter the way we diagnose, treat and prevent Alzheimer’s disease,” Rudolph Tanzi of Massachusetts General Hospital, who led the study, said in a statement.
The Alzheimer’s Disease Association predicts that as many as 5.2 million Americans are living with the disease.
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