According to a study published on 28 February in the journal Nature Genetics, a genetic analysis conducted in the US and Europe has reported five new genes that increase the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The international team of researchers analysed data from 94.737 people with late onset AD collected by the four groups that make up the International Genomic Alzheimer’s Project. In addition to confirm the know association of 20 genes with AD risk, the team identified 5 new risk genes for late-onset AD (QCK, ACE, ADAM10, ADAMTS1 and WWOX).
They also identified cellular pathways which might be implicated in the process of the disease such as the immune system, lipid metabolism, tau binding proteins and amyloid precursor protein (APP) metabolism. Genetic variants affecting APP and Aβ processing have been showed to be associated with both early-onset autosomal dominant AD and with late onset AD. Scientists suggested that therapies developed for early-onset disease could also be applicable to the late-onset form of the disease.