Nearly 150,000 Flemish people are living with Alzheimer’s disease. In addition to environmental factors such as a person’s lifestyle or underlying conditions, there is also evidence that genetic factors may be at the root of the disease.
The links between DNA and Alzheimer’s disease have therefore been studied for some time. The new research has sought to capture those links in the largest-scale study ever, analyzing DNA from nearly 800,000 people, 111,000 of whom had Alzheimer’s.
The scientists were able to identify a total of 75 regions in DNA that are linked to whether or not they have Alzheimer’s disease. Forty-two of these regions were discovered for the first time.
Useful tool
The research is not yet ready to determine whether and how great a person’s risk is of developing Alzheimer’s. That is the intention in the long term. «A risk score like this is not currently intended for a diagnosis, but it could be a very useful tool in setting up clinical studies to classify participants based on their genetic risk,» explains Professor Kristel Sleegers (UAntwerp) from. “In this way, the effect of drug candidates could be determined much more accurately.”
Sleegers estimates that with these new discoveries a number of DNA regions have already been found, but that there is still a certain way to go. “We’re beyond the tip of the iceberg, but we’re not there yet.”