Colombian family's genes offer new clue to delaying onset of Alzheimer's

In this undated photo provided by Massachusetts General Hospital, Dr. Francisco Lopera, right, of the University of Antioquia, a neurologist who has spent decades caring for a large Colombian family plagued by early-in-life Alzheimers, confers with fellow researcher Yakeel Quiroz of Massachusetts General Hospital. – Scientists studying a family plagued by early-in-life Alzheimer’s found some carry a genetic oddity that delays their initial symptoms by five years.

The big clue: She also harbored something incredibly rare, two copies of an unrelated gene named APOE3 that had a mutation dubbed Christchurch. That odd gene pair appeared to shield her, staving off her genetic predisposition for Alzheimer's. The findings, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, are encouraging, said Dr. Eliezer Masliah of the National Institute on Aging.

More than 6 million Americans, and an estimated 55 million people worldwide, have Alzheimer’s. Less than 1% of cases are like the Colombian family’s, caused by a gene passed through generations that triggers the disease at unusually young ages.

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