Six new gene variants associated with Alzheimer's have been identified: the discovery, the result of a maxi study on DNA of over 400,000 people, highlights how the disease is due to the combined effect of several genes and indicates the possibility of calculating a score that quantifies the risk genetic to identify asymptomatic individuals who are most likely to develop the disease. The result is published in the journal Nature Communications by an international consortium in which researchers from the State University of Milan who work at the Neurology and Geriatrics of the Policlinico di Milano participate.
The specialists had the task of selecting the patients enrolled in the study, guaranteeing the accuracy of the clinical procedure essential for the reliability of the genetic analysis: this thanks to the use of the most advanced neuropsychological, neurochemical, genetic and radiological techniques and methods, that allow a diagnostic precision at the molecular level of the disease.
Researchers studied the DNA of more than 400,000 people, confirming the role of several genes already known as risk factors for Alzheimer's and identifying new candidate genes, some harmful and others protective. According to Daniela Galimberti, head of the Diagnosis and Research Laboratory of the Neurodegenerative Diseases Unit, “the results presented today underline the fact that the disease is due to the effect of numerous genes and the genetic risk can be quantified”. Elio Scarpini, director of the Unit, underlines that "the identification of asymptomatic subjects at high risk of developing Alzheimer's disease is the indispensable element for the development of new specific, preventive and curative pharmacological treatments".
