Family history leads to possible causative gene for Alzheimer’s
May 15, 2008 | Source: KurzweilAI
Medical College of Georgia researchers and their colleagues have identified single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with late-onset Alzheimer’s disease.
They studied two large families with high rates of the disease, and found 90 percent had a distinct pattern of SNPs in the TRPC4AP gene. These SNPs were also found in the DNA of 36 percent of 200 other late-onset patients stored in the Alzheimers’ DNA Bank. This gene is part of a large family of genes that is not well-studied but is believed to regulate calcium.