In Turin they were discovered 40 new risk factors for the disease of Alzheimer, within the cognitive deficit pathologies that affect 60 thousand people in Piedmont, 50 million people suffering from dementia all over the world. With the possibility, if treatment is not found, to see the numbers tripled by 2050 given the growing incidence and aging of the population.
The study has just been published on Nature Genetics. The research also confirmed the role of other factors already known and it was possible to generate an assessment of the risk of contracting the disease that can be used for testing new drugs.
For the first time this investigation uncovered the role of genes associated with the fattore Tnf-alpha in the modulation of the disease. A step to develop specific treatments that can slow down the progression of the disease. Some genes have also been isolated that play a role not only in Alzheimer’s disease but also in related dementias such as frontotemporale it’s at Lewy bodies.
Furthermore, the research has clarified the role of cells microgliali in the progression of the disease, brain “scavenger” cells that provide for the removal of potentially neurotoxic abnormal proteins. Excessive activation of microglial cells can cause the secondary damage seen in the disease.
The research was attended by University Alzheimer’s Center of the City of Health, coordinated by Professor Innocenzo Rainero with the collaboration of researchers Elisa Rubino, Silvia Boschi and Fausto Roveta. Numerous Piedmontese patients were selected.A large worldwide study, possible thanks to the establishment of a large European network of researchers (European Alzheimer and Dementia Biobank – Eadb) which, in collaboration with American and Australian researchers, made it possible to collect samples of dna of more than 110,000 patients suffering from Alzheimer’s and to compare them with those of 750,000 healthy subjects.