Scientists uncover gene group that could lead to Alzheimer's treatment

The gene signature echoes the pattern in which Alzheimer’s disease, an incurable illness that affects the brain’s functions, spreads through the brain much later in life.

University of Cambridge academics claim the findings could help to uncover the molecular origins of the devastating disease, and may be used to develop treatments for at-risk individuals well before symptoms appear.

The results, published in the journal Science Advances, identified a specific signature in the regions of the brain which are most vulnerable to Alzheimer’s.

They found that the body’s defence mechanisms against the proteins partly responsible for Alzheimer’s are weaker in these areas of the brain.

The results imply that healthy young people with a nonstandard form of this specific gene signature may be more likely to develop Alzheimer’s in later life.

Rosie Freer, a Cambridge PhD student and the study’s lead author, said: “I hope that these results will help drug discovery efforts – that by illuminating the origins of disease vulnerability, there will be clearer targets for those working to cure Alzheimer’s disease.”

Earlier this year, the same researchers proposed that “neurostatins” could be taken by healthy individuals to slow or stop the progression of Alzheimer’s, in a similar way to how statins – which reduce the levels of ‘bad cholesterol’ in the blood – are taken to prevent heart disease. It is thought that the research could identify who would benefit most from taking such medication.

Although a neurostatin for human use is still quite some time away, a shorter-term benefit of these results may be to breed genetically modified mice or other animals that repeat the full pathology of Alzheimer’s, which is the most common way for scientists to understand this or any disease to develop new treatments.

The molecular origins of Alzheimer’s are still unknown, and it is hoped the gene signature research will help to explore why certain parts of the brain are more vulnerable than others.

Senior author Professor Michele Vendruscolo, of the Centre for Misfolding Diseases at Cambridge, said: “What we’ve tried to do is to predict disease progression starting from healthy brains.

“If we can predict where and when neuronal damage will occur, then we will understand why certain brain tissues are vulnerable, and get a glimpse at the molecular origins of Alzheimer’s disease.”