Biomedical Frontiers: SPRING/SUMMER 1997, Vol.4, No.3
Special Section: Alzheimer's Research
The Genetics of Alzheimer's

Two studies from CPMC researchers published in the Journal of the American Medical Association shed light on the genetics of Alzheimer's disease.

In one study, published in a March issue of JAMA, researchers found a connection between APOE genotype and dementia in patients with stroke. Dr. Richard Mayeux, principal investigator, Gertrude H. Sergievsky Professor of Neurology, director of the Sergievsky Center, and co-director of the Taub Center for Alzheimer's Disease Research, concluded that although the occurrence of stroke seems unrelated to APOE genotype, the outcome after stroke may be worse for individuals with an APOE 4 allele.

In the same issue of JAMA, a study by co-authors Drs. Mayeux and Benjamin Tycko, associate professor of pathology, in collaboration with researchers at Rush University, found that although the APOE 4 allele accounts for some degree of genetic risk for Alzheimer's disease in the very old, other genetic and environmental factors also may be important.

Drs. Mayeux and Tycko are continuing their efforts to understand the genetics of Alzheimer's disease. One study now in progress is examining the genetics of the disease among Hispanics, a population that has a higher prevalence of Alzheimer's disease yet does not carry the known genetic risk factors.

Dr. Mayeux also is continuing studies aimed at the primary prevention of the disease. This fall he will begin a study in which women with a family history of Alzheimer's will be treated with estrogen in an attempt to stop or slow the development of the disease.