On 6 May, researchers presented preliminary findings on a possible link between established Alzheimer’s disease (AD) related genetic variants and cognitive decline in Parkinson’s disease. The presentation was held during the Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Neurology in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Although there is still a big knowledge gap about how and why certain genetic factors might trigger the development of dementia over the life course, researchers have invested a great deal of work to identify genetic variants that correlate with the probability to develop AD. Engagement with “at higher risk” individuals is especially important for researchers who work on the development of treatments as well as those who would like to get a better understanding of the disease course in the early stages, before any symptoms occur.
The new results now showed that some of these variants might also be of value for Parkinson’s research. The investigators analysed 151 people with Parkinson’s disease without dementia and found that genetic variants that contribute to the risk to develop AD dementia (single nucleotide polymorphisms at susceptibility loci CR1, BIN1, CLU, and PICALM) were also connected to the risk of cognitive decline in people with Parkinson’s disease. The team underlined that these are preliminary findings, which would need to be assessed in long-term studies to see if they can be replicated. Nevertheless, further research seems to be warranted.
