In Preventing Alzheimer’s, Mutation May Aid Drug Quest
The New York Times
By GINA KOLATA
11 July 2012
The New York Times
By GINA KOLATA
11 July 2012
[snip]
Two decades ago, researchers began discovering rare gene mutations that cause Alzheimer’s disease in all who inherit them. Now, they have found the opposite: a mutation that prevents the devastating brain disorder. The protective mutation also is very rare — it is not the reason most people do not develop Alzheimer’s disease. But what intrigues researchers is how it protects the brain. It does the reverse of what the mutations that cause Alzheimer’s do. Those mutations lead to excessive amounts of a normal substance, beta amyloid, in the brain. The protective mutation slows beta amyloid production, so people make much less.
[snip]
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