Meet the family rewriting the rules of Alzheimer’s disease! In her newest Forbes article, Ellen Matloff describes the groundbreaking study identifying potential protective genes for Alzheimer’s disease onset.
The patient in question carried a mutation in a gene called preseni-lin 1 (PSEN1) that is known to cause mild cognitive impairment (MCI) by a median age of 44 and dementia by 49 years. However, he was cognitively intact until age 67 and did not develop MCI until 70 or mild dementia until 72.
The answer to why this man was able to stave off the disease for so long is found, at least in part, in his genes. In addition to the mutation that causes Alzheimer’s, this man also carried a newly described mutation in the RELN gene, called Reelin-COLBOS, which appears to provide protection from Alzheimer’s disease.
Read more here.