According to a new study, individuals who carry a high-risk gene for Alzheimer’s can show brain changes as early as childhood—decades before the onset of the disease.
The gene is called SORL1. Previous studies have shown that the gene may play a role in increased risk for developing Alzheimer’s. Dr. Aristotle Voineskos, lead author of the new study, wanted to determine how early on the gene starts affecting the brain as well as the effects it has over the course of a person’s lifetime. He said, “We need to understand where, when and how these Alzheimer’s risk genes affect the brain.”
For the study, Dr. Voineskos and his colleagues studied individuals with Alzheimer’s as well as those without. Additionally, they studied people spanning a wide age range, with participants as young as eight years old. They found that those who carried a specific copy of the high-risk gene had reduced white matter connections in the brain—connections that are essential for memory performance. This was true even for the children.
When the researchers tested individuals with some form of dementia, they found that the high-risk gene was linked to the presence of amyloid beta—a protein that forms sticky plaques in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s.
What does this all mean? It means that we are getting closer to being able to identify Alzheimer’s before its onset. Currently, people with Alzheimer’s typically aren’t diagnosed until 10 to 15 years after the disease has set in, due to the fact that symptoms take that long to manifest.
Dr. Voineskos said, “Through this knowledge, we begin to design interventions at the right time, for the right people.” It’s paramount that we find a way to detect Alzheimer’s before a person displays symptoms. This new research offers hope that in the not too distant future, we may be able to intervene before Alzheimer’s or other dementias begin, and—hopefully—prevent them from developing all together.