
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, August 13, 1993                   TAG: 9308190003
SECTION: NATL/INTL                    PAGE: A-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                 LENGTH: Medium

ALZHEIMER'S-LINKED GENE COULD FIND LIKELY VICTIMS

Researchers have linked the most common forms of Alzheimer's to a gene that helps process cholesterol, enabling them to identify some patients virtually certain to develop the mind-destroying disease in their elderly years.

In research on 42 families where late-onset Alzheimer's is common, Duke University scientist found a 90 percent risk of the disease by age 80 among people with copies of a gene variant called apolipoprotein-E, type 4, or APOE-4.

The APOE-4 gene also was linked to people developing Alzheimer's at an early age, said Dr. A. D. Roses of Duke.

The gene, on chromosome 19, has been studied for years because it plays a role in processing cholesterol in the body and it the body and is thought to be involved in some forms of heart disease.

The APOE gene occurs in three forms, or alleles. Since half of a pair of genes is inherited from each parent, a person can have either mixed APOE alleles of the same kind.

`What this shows is that APOE-4 increases the risk and lowers the age at which you get the disease,' said Roses. `It looks like virtually all will develop it by the age of 80 if they have two copies.'

A report on the study was to be published today in the journal Science.

Dr. Zaven Kachaturian, director of Alzheimer's Research at the National Institute of Aging, one of the National Insitute of Health, said the research has caused `a great deal of excietment' among Alzheimer's researchers because it links the most common form of the disease with a specific gene factor that can be measured.

`It could become a very important diagnostic tool,' said Kachaturrian. `We may be able to screen for this and be able to make judgments about whether a person's likelihood of getting the disease is high of low, or early or late. It has that potential.'

The Duke researchers cautioned that their conclusions now can be applied only to families where members have late-onset Alzheimer's, the most common form of the disease.

Additional studies to verify the findings will be required before the conclusions can be applied to the general population, said Kachaturian.

by CNB