Research Traces Subset Of Late-In-Life Alzheimer’s To Genetics

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A nurse holds the hands of a person suffering from Alzheimer’s disease on September 21, 2009 at Les Fontaines retirement home in Lutterbach , eastern France. (SEBASTIEN BOZON/AFP via Getty Images)

OAN’s Chloe Hauxwell
12:04 PM – Tuesday, May 7, 2024

For the first time, researchers have identified a genetic form of late-in-life Alzheimer’s disease in people who inherit two copies of a worrisome gene.

On Monday, published researched suggested that people who carry these two copies have more of a risk factor.

Scientists have known for a while that a specific gene is one of many things that can increase people’s risk for Alzheimer’s, including simply getting older.

The vast majority of cases occur after the age of 65.

More than six million Americans, and millions more worldwide, have been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.

“Now that a thousand individuals have been put together, now we can and we have all the proper biomarkers,” Dr. Eliezer Masliah of the National Institute on Aging said. “We can see that basically everybody with the two alleles of E4 eventually develop Alzheimer pathology and eventually also develop symptoms of Alzheimer disease. So that indicates that it is not just a risk factor, but that it’s a strong predictor that these individuals will develop Alzheimer pathology.”

Scientists say that anyone with a strong family history of the disease should see their doctor.

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