Word: onsets
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...three new genes, known as clusterin, complement receptor 1 (CR1) and PICALM, were uncovered by two separate research groups, one in Wales and one in France, who linked the genes to the most common form of the memory disorder, late-onset Alzheimer's - the type that affects patients in their 60s or later and accounts for about 90% of all Alzheimer's cases. The only other gene connected with the condition, apolipoprotein E (ApoE), was identified in 1993; since, researchers have tirelessly hunted for other key genes, knowing that 60% to 80% of the progressive, incurable disease is genetically based...
...three of the four known genes associated with the disease were connected to the rarer, inherited form, which appears in adults as young as 40 or 50. The three additional genes, identified in the new papers, now tip the balance of genetic understanding in favor of the late onset condition that affects a majority of the 5.3 million patients living with the disease in the U.S. (See how to prevent illness...
Based on the prevalence of the new genes and variants in the populations studied, the U.K. and French groups speculate that about 20% to 25% of late-onset Alzheimer's can be explained by ApoE; 8% to 12% by clusterin; and another 3% to 5% by CR1 and PICALM...
...involved in helping to clear away the amyloid that forms in the brain; but another variant of the gene may also allow amyloid to form fibrils, the sticky protein arms that further anchor amyloid plaques to nerve cells, much like a spider web ensnares prey. In late-onset Alzheimer's, it's possible that the body cannot balance these two functions of clusterin. "It may be that the difference between a variant of clusterin that protects from Alzheimer's versus one that has a higher risk is the balance between clearing amyloid versus causing it to form more deposits," says...
...tangles that strangle nerve function, the identification of PICALM suggests that some part of the disease may have to do with a breakdown in nerve-cell communication at the junctures. "If you had given people a list of genes and said which ones were involved in late onset Alzheimer's disease, PICALM would have been less likely than the others to be picked," says Goate...