This study seems to dole out information about the dreaded Alzheimer’s disease. A study claims to have recognized a gene that seems to augment an individual’s threat of developing late-onset onset Alzheimer’s disease, the most general kind of Alzheimer’s disease.

Study authors have apparently observed gene variation all through the human genomes of approximately 2,269 people with late-onset Alzheimer’s disease and roughly 3,107 people devoid of the disease through what’s called as a genome-wide association study. Numerous studies supposedly include looking at long stretches of DNA to recognize minute differences in the genetic sequence between people with and without Alzheimer’s disease.

Senior author Margaret Pericak-Vance, PhD, the principal investigator of the study and Director of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine’s John P. Hussman Institute for Human Genomics in Miami, Florida, commented, “Only recently have common variants in genes other than APOE been convincingly shown to be associated with a person’s risk of developing late-onset Alzheimer’s disease.”

The study discovered that people with a specific variation in the gene MTHFD1L may nearly have double the odds to develop Alzheimer’s disease as those people devoid of the variation.

Adam Naj, PhD, with the University of Miami Miller School of Meidicne’s John P. Hussman Institute for Human Genomics in Miami and the first author of the abstract reporting the discovery, mentioned, “We are hopeful our identification of MTHFD1L as a risk gene for Alzheimer’s disease will help us to better understand how this disease develops and potentially serve as a marker for people who may be at increased risk.”

Pericak-Vance remarked, “Identifying this gene is important because the gene is known to be involved in influencing the body’s levels of homocysteine, and high levels of homocysteine are strong risk factor for late-onset Alzheimer’s disease. In addition, variations of the MTHFD1L gene have been reported to possibly increase the risk of coronary artery disease. Since the function of blood vessels in the brain may affect Alzheimer’s disease, this finding may also help us understand how homocysteine levels and blood vessel function in the brain affect Alzheimer’s disease.”

As per the Who, approximately 18 million people all over the world suffer from Alzheimer’s disease currently. This figure is estimated to increase by almost two-fold to 34 million by 2025.

The study was presented at the American Academy of Neurology’s 62nd Annual Meeting in Toronto.