The study, coordinated by the French National Institute for Research on Health and Medicine (Inserm), also has many Italian universities and research centers among its main authors. These include the universities of Florence, Milan and Milan-Bicocca, Bari, Perugia, Turin, Irccs Fondazione Santa Lucia and Policlinico Gemelli
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There are 75 regions of DNA associated with the risk of Alzheimer’s42 of which had never been linked to the disease before – the important thing discovery made by the largest international study conducted so far on this neurodegenerative disease and which could now pave the way for the search for new therapies. Published in the magazine Nature Geneticsthe study is coordinated by the French National Institute for Research on Health and Medicine (Inserm), the University of Lille, the Pasteur Institute and the University Hospital of Lille, which was also attended by many Italian universities and research centers, including the universities of Florence, Milan and Milan-Bicocca, Bari, Perugia, Turin, Irccs Santa Lucia Foundation and Gemelli Polyclinic.
It is a result that constitutes an essential advance to better understand the mechanisms behind the most common form of dementia, which it affects millions of people around the world and for which there is still no cure. On the other hand, it has been known for some time that Alzheimer’s has a strong genetic component and now knowing it fully is essential to deepen research on this disease across the board.
Identifying the 75 genetic components involved in Alzheimer’s was possible by analyzing the DNA of over 111 thousand sick peopleor with sick close relatives, and more than 677 thousand healthy people. The genetic regions discovered confirm the importance of phenomena already much studied, but they throw light also on mechanisms that were not considered connected with this pathology.
In addition to the accumulation of beta-amyloid protein in the brain and the degeneration of the Tau protein, two processes long associated with the onset of Alzheimer’s, the results have also focused on innate dysfunctions of the immune system and microglia (immune cells that play the role of scavengers of the central nervous system), as well as on molecules involved in the inflammatory response due to tissue injury.
The researchers intend to continue the study on an even larger sample, which includes a greater number of non-Caucasian subjects, in order to understand if the risk factors are the same in all populations.