Over the past few years scientists have made inroads in the fight against Alzheimer’s disease, but as yet no definitive cure has been found. In the latest development, researchers have identified a genetic variant that can delay the onset of the disease by up to four years.
Alzheimer’s has been the focus of a great deal of research in the past few years. Scientists have identified genetic markers through advanced blood tests, discovered proteins complicit in the onset of the disease, investigated lasers that could potentially remove proteins that affect neurological processes and recently, a study by the University of California showed that the disease could be successfully halted, and even reversed, in mice. But while many of these developments are promising in the long run, the need to delay the diseases onset is considered crucial in the interim.
The Canadian research team, led by Judes Poirier, PhD, C.Q., from the Douglas Mental Health Institute and McGill University in Montréal, conducted a study on an extensive scale in which they found natural genetic variants that provided protection against the most common form of Alzheimer’s.