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Genetics of Alzheimer's disease: recent advances

Alzheimer's disease is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder with high prevalence in old age. It is the most common cause of dementia, with a risk reaching 50% after the age of 85 years, and with the increasing age of the population it is one of the biggest healthcare challenges of the 21st...

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Autor principal: Avramopoulos, Dimitrios
Formato: Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2009
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2664945/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19341505
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/gm34
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author Avramopoulos, Dimitrios
author_facet Avramopoulos, Dimitrios
author_sort Avramopoulos, Dimitrios
collection PubMed
description Alzheimer's disease is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder with high prevalence in old age. It is the most common cause of dementia, with a risk reaching 50% after the age of 85 years, and with the increasing age of the population it is one of the biggest healthcare challenges of the 21st century. Genetic variation is an important contributor to the risk for this disease, underlying an estimated heritability of about 70%. Alzheimer's genetics research in the 1990s was successful in identifying three genes accounting for most cases of early-onset disease with autosomal dominant inheritance, and one gene involved in the more common late-onset disease, which shows complex inheritance patterns. Despite the presence of significant remaining genetic contribution to the risk, the identification of genes since then has been elusive, reminiscent of most other complex disorders. In the past decade there have been significant efforts towards a systematic evaluation of the multiple genetic association studies for Alzheimer's disease, while the first genome-wide association studies are now being reported with promising results. As sample sizes grow through new collections and collaborative efforts, and as new technologies make it possible to test alternative hypotheses, it is expected that new genes involved in the disease will soon be identified and confirmed. The gene discoveries of the 1990s have taught us a lot about Alzheimer's disease pathogenesis, providing many therapeutic targets that are currently at various stages of testing for future clinical use. As new genes become known and the biological pathways leading to disease are further explored, the possibility of prevention and successful personalized treatment is becoming tangible, providing hope for the millions of patients with Alzheimer's disease and their caregivers.
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spelling pubmed-26649452009-04-04 Genetics of Alzheimer's disease: recent advances Avramopoulos, Dimitrios Genome Med Review Alzheimer's disease is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder with high prevalence in old age. It is the most common cause of dementia, with a risk reaching 50% after the age of 85 years, and with the increasing age of the population it is one of the biggest healthcare challenges of the 21st century. Genetic variation is an important contributor to the risk for this disease, underlying an estimated heritability of about 70%. Alzheimer's genetics research in the 1990s was successful in identifying three genes accounting for most cases of early-onset disease with autosomal dominant inheritance, and one gene involved in the more common late-onset disease, which shows complex inheritance patterns. Despite the presence of significant remaining genetic contribution to the risk, the identification of genes since then has been elusive, reminiscent of most other complex disorders. In the past decade there have been significant efforts towards a systematic evaluation of the multiple genetic association studies for Alzheimer's disease, while the first genome-wide association studies are now being reported with promising results. As sample sizes grow through new collections and collaborative efforts, and as new technologies make it possible to test alternative hypotheses, it is expected that new genes involved in the disease will soon be identified and confirmed. The gene discoveries of the 1990s have taught us a lot about Alzheimer's disease pathogenesis, providing many therapeutic targets that are currently at various stages of testing for future clinical use. As new genes become known and the biological pathways leading to disease are further explored, the possibility of prevention and successful personalized treatment is becoming tangible, providing hope for the millions of patients with Alzheimer's disease and their caregivers. BioMed Central 2009-03-27 /pmc/articles/PMC2664945/ /pubmed/19341505 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/gm34 Text en Copyright ©2009 BioMed Central Ltd
spellingShingle Review
Avramopoulos, Dimitrios
Genetics of Alzheimer's disease: recent advances
title Genetics of Alzheimer's disease: recent advances
title_full Genetics of Alzheimer's disease: recent advances
title_fullStr Genetics of Alzheimer's disease: recent advances
title_full_unstemmed Genetics of Alzheimer's disease: recent advances
title_short Genetics of Alzheimer's disease: recent advances
title_sort genetics of alzheimer's disease: recent advances
topic Review
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2664945/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19341505
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/gm34
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