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---------------------------------------------------------------------------- New genetic risk factor linked to Alzheimer's ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- LONDON (October 14, 1997 01:46 a.m. EDT http://www.nando.net) - British researchers said on Tuesday they have discovered another gene that is linked to the development of late-onset Alzheimer's disease, and the finding could be particularly important in developing a drug therapy to counteract the degenerative brain disorder. "We think it's very exciting because it is a gene that interacts with another known risk factor and interacts strongly," Dr David Smith, of the Oxford Project to Investigate Memory and Ageing (OPTIMA), said in an interview. "We see it as a key to understanding the disease." His team identified a gene on chromosome 3, called the K variant, that interacts with another gene, the E4 variant, to increase the risk of developing late onset Alzheimer's disease. People with the two gene mutations have a 30-fold increase risk of getting the disorder. Late-onset Alzheimer's is the most common form of the disease which affects people over the age of 65. It is different from the much rarer early onset which is genetically determined. "Our results show that we have a new susceptibility gene that interacts strongly with another one and the mutation of this gene is in the protein that it produces. These two proteins somehow interact together in the body to facilitate the disease process," Smith explained. Unlike early onset Alzheimer's which is determined by three genes, the type that develops later in life is more complicated and involves several risk factors. Smith suspects that as medical knowledge increases, other genes linked to the disease will be identified. "It (the finding) could be potentially important because if we can understand how this interaction between these two mutated proteins leads to the disease process we might be able to find a drug that interferes with that process. This is a potential drug target that is amenable to experimental investigation," Smith said. "The whole Alzheimer's story is beginning to unravel in a fantastic way," he added. Scientists at Duke University in North Carolina discovered the first susceptibility gene, the E4 variant, in 1994. About six percent of the Caucasian population carry the E4 and K variant. Smith said his team's findings need to be replicated in other centers but it was another step in the battle against the illness that afflicts tens of millions of people around the world. Copyright 1997 Nando.net Copyright 1997 Reuters <http://www.nando.net/newsroom/ntn/health/101497/health8_10849_noframes.html> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------