A major international research project has found 11 new genes linked to Alzheimer’s disease, it was announced last night.
The discoveries bring the total number of genes thought to be linked to the disease to 21.
The researchers say another 13 genes may also be linked to the disease.
Researchers say the discoveries open up a range of new areas of research into the causes of the brain disease.
The findings, reported in Nature Genetics, come from a study of some 74,000 patients with Alzheimer’s disease.
The project linked a European study, the European Alzheimer Disease Initiative, to a number of US-based projects.
One of the discoveries relates to the HLA-DRB5/DRB1 region, which researchers say has also been linked to multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease and plays a role in the immune system.
One of the researchers, Professor Lindsay Farrer, of Boston University, Massachusetts, USA, said: "Each gene we implicate in the disease process adds new knowledge to our understanding of disease mechanism and provides insight into developing new therapeutic approaches, and ultimately these approaches may be more effective in halting the disease since genes are expressed long before clinical symptoms appear and brain damage occurs."
Another researcher Professor Margaret Pericak-Vance, of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, USA, said: "Our findings bring us closer toward identifying new drug targets for Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases.
"We’ll continue to expand and analyse our data set with this incredible group so that we can better understand the genetic influences on this devastating disease, and find new medical and therapeutic interventions."
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