Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, May 8, 1990 TAG: 9005080617
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A/2 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEW YORK LENGTH: Medium
The work, which follows a 1987 report of one such genetic defect, "sort of shines a flashlight on a new area" to pursue, said researcher Dr. Allen Roses of the Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C.
The new work focused on a form of Alzheimer's that runs in families and strikes at an average age of about 69, Roses said. The genetic defect located earlier was associated with Alzheimer's that strikes at a younger age.
Alzheimer's is a progressive, degenerative disorder that attacks the brain and impairs memory, thinking and behavior. Some 4.4 million Americans are affected, most of them older than 65, according to the Alzheimer's Association. No cause or cure is known.
Roses reported the new study last week at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology.
In a telephone interview Monday, he said it is not clear what percentage of Alzheimer's cases is accounted for by the form of the disease the researchers studied.
But he said that his findings might be applicable to so-called sporadic cases of Alzheimer's.
The new work was aimed at finding a location for a second gene among the body's 23 pairs of chromosomes.
The results suggest a "very high likelihood" that a defective gene conferring susceptibility to lateonset familial Alzheimer's resides in a portion of the chromosome numbered 19, Roses said.
In 1987, other researchers said they had found evidence that a gene or genes in a region of chromosome 21 was linked to a form of Alzheimer's that strikes before age 65.
Alzheimer's researcher Gerard Schellenberg of the University of Washington in Seattle said Monday that while he has not seen a final report of the new work, it appears to be "extremely interesting" and worth more investigation. By a standard statistical measure, the strength of the evidence is quite strong, he said.
The work was done by studying genetic material from 258 members of 28 families that included cases of late-onset familial Alzheimer's.
Researchers essentially used three locations on chromosome 19 as signposts and analyzed their data to check the likelihood that an Alzheimer's gene lay near those locations.
by CNB