The researcher’s sample included 232 Alzheimer’s-resistant family members and 581 family members who had Alzheimer’s when they died. They discovered a rare variant of the RAB10 gene that fit the bill; Alzheimer’s-resistant family members had the RAB10 variant while those who developed Alzheimer’s didn’t. The RAB10 variant reduces the effects of the RAB10 gene and the researchers hypothesized that reducing RAB10 activity protects against Alzheimer's. Decreasing RAB10 activity in the mouse cells reduced beta amyloid formation while increasing RAB10 activity increased it. Rather than search for a genetic marker for the disease, they looked for a gene variant that might prevent the disease.

Source: Forbes December 06, 2017 20:26 UTC