Causes of Alzheimer studied through DNA

The scientists found a bright spot in determining the cause of Alzheimer's disease by examining the patient's DNA structure. An Alzheimer's research center in the UK said the findings could "significantly increase" the understanding of the disease.

The exact causes of Alzheimer's
are unknown. (Picture from: 
http://www.bbc.co.uk/)

Number of patients with Alzheimer's in the world continues to increase along with the increase in length of life expectancy. However, there are still many unanswered key questions about what causes dementia, how the brain cell damage occurs, and how to treat it.

"It is very difficult to treat a disease if you do not understand what causes the disease," said Professor Julie Williams of Cardiff University, one of the leaders of the research team.

Professor Williams, who also heads the nerve degeneration in parts of Cardiff University, told the BBC, "There's something in the immune response that causes Alzheimer's disease, and we need to see it."

To search for more clues, researchers tried to explore the DNA as the genetic code that gives instructions to build and run the body. A group of scientists consisting of genetics researchers from 145 academic institutions in researching the DNA of 17,000 patients and 37,000 healthy people. The researchers found that there was a version of the order of 21 genes that allow a person suffering from Alzheimer's disease later in life.

Dr Eric Karran, director of research at Alzheimer’s Research UK, commented on the findings saying, “while this new discovery holds real potential, the true value will come from pinpointing the exact genes involved, how they contribute to Alzheimer’s and how this could be transmitted into benefits for people living with the disease”. This is what is most promising about this research – it is one step on the road towards finding effective methods of diagnosis, preventing and testing this common but still mysterious disease.. *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | BBC | JAM | PIKIRAN RAKYAT 07112013]

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