Major news in the fight against Alzheimer’s: researchers have identified a critical gene linked to the disease specifically in African Americans. This could reshape our understanding of genetic risk across different populations!
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) disproportionately affects African Americans, presenting at nearly double the rate compared to their White or European-ancestry counterparts in the U.S. Experts suggest that this disparity is influenced by various social and structural factors, including unequal health care access, educational inequalities, and biases in cognitive assessments. Additionally, higher incidences of conditions like cardiovascular disease and diabetes among African Americans further elevate AD risks.
In a groundbreaking study, scientists from Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine have uncovered significant genetic differences in brain tissue from African Americans with AD. This research draws from the largest ever analysis of brain samples from African American donors, offering new insights into the genetic underpinnings of the disease.
The research identified several genes that displayed different activity levels in individuals with AD compared to those without. Notably, the ADAMTS2 gene emerged as a standout, showing a 1.5-fold increase in expression in the brains of individuals diagnosed with AD through autopsy. This finding marks a pivotal moment in Alzheimer’s research, offering a potential pathway for understanding the disease’s progression.
Researchers gathered gene expression data from post-mortem prefrontal cortex samples from 207 African American brain donors, including 125 diagnosed with AD and 82 controls. The samples were sourced from 14 NIH-funded AD Research Centers situated across the United States. What makes this discovery particularly exciting is that ADAMTS2 also ranked as the most significantly expressed gene in an independent study focusing on European Americans, highlighting a shared genetic component in Alzheimer’s pathology.
"This is the first time our genetic studies have shown the same significant finding in both White and African American populations," said Lindsay A. Farrer, PhD, chief of biomedical genetics at the school. This correlation opens the door to deeper investigations into Alzheimer’s risk factors that may be common across different ethnic groups.
The implications of this research are profound. The findings advance the understanding of genetic risk for Alzheimer’s specifically in African Americans, a group that has often been underrepresented in genetic studies. While many known AD risk variants are population-specific, the overlap of genes linked to the disease typically varies across different demographics.
Farrer emphasized, "Although risk in African Americans has been associated with several genes, the overlap with European American populations has been modest. Our findings suggest that the expression of ADAMTS2 is significantly higher in both groups, indicating a shared biological process that could open up new avenues for treatment research." This study published in Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association represents an important step forward in the quest to understand and combat Alzheimer’s disease.
