Newswise — Investigators at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have identified a genetic variation associated with an earlier age of onset in Alzheimer's disease.
Unlike genetic mutations previously linked to rare, inherited forms of early-onset Alzheimer's disease — which can strike people as young as their 30s or 40s — these variants influence an earlier presentation of symptoms in people affected by the more common, late-onset form of the disease.
Two principal features characterize Alzheimer's disease in the brain: amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles. The plaques contain a protein called amyloid-beta. The tangles are made of a protein called tau.
The research team analyzed DNA from 313 subjects from Washington University's Alzheimer's Disease Research Center (ADRC), focusing on locations in the tau gene that previously have been found to vary between people.
