Alzheimer's Genetic Link Development

In "Vast Gene Study Yields Insights on Alzheimer's" by Gina Kolata; Kolata writes about Dr. Schellenberg's study regarding genetic links for the causes of Alzheimer's. While the cause of Alzheimer's is due to the loss of brain cells which produce acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter which affects neurons involved in muscle action, cognitive functioning, memory, and emotion. However, why people who suffer from this disease lose these brain cells is still a great area of interest. In the most recent study, a group of 50,000 people were genetically analyzed which produced fairly concrete correlations between five specific genes that increase the likelihood of Alzheimer's development.

This recent study now doubles the number of genes known to be involved to 10 from the previous 5 genes. Prior to this studies' publication, it was believed, but not proven, that cholesterol played a prominent role in the disease process. This study provided the evidence that there is an important role between cholesterol and the development of Alzheimer's.

This study has been circulating in the news because, as Dr. Nelson B. Freimer says "there were now enough unequivocal genes for Alzheimer's disease that researchers could make real progress in figuring out its biology... 'this is a big, solid step'".

While I understand that genetic links are important in understanding such a debilitating disease, I'm still left curious as to how in the future this could possibly affect Alzheimer's patients. I've always believed that more information is always better for forming a well-rounded hypothesis, however the article did not go into how this information would be used.

As a grandson of an Alzheimer's sufferer, will there be possible ways in the future to not only prevent but cure the disease?

The quest for a cure/prevention of this disease has long been a popular topic. Little known fact: if you've seen that movie, Deep Blue Sea, with the viciously smart sharks; the reason their so smart is due to experiments done in the hope of finding a cure for Alzheimer's.

One of the most hopeful aspects of this article and the study as well, is that while building this study, almost every Alzheimer's center and Alzheimer's geneticist in the country cooperated. As Bruce Mau said; time and the progression of ideas is constricted to the linear progression of time, however if we all thought about solutions to a specific problem for a year, that would result in 307 million years of thought devoted to solving the problem.