{"id":402041,"date":"2026-01-09T13:20:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T13:20:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/402041\/"},"modified":"2026-01-09T13:20:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T13:20:08","slug":"alzheimers-therapies-should-target-a-particular-gene-researchers-say-alzheimers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/402041\/","title":{"rendered":"Alzheimer\u2019s therapies should target a particular gene, researchers say | Alzheimer’s"},"content":{"rendered":"

New therapies for Alzheimer\u2019s disease should target a particular gene linked to the condition, according to researchers who said most cases would never arise if its harmful effects were neutralised.<\/p>\n

The call to action follows the arrival of the first wave of drugs that aim to treat Alzheimer\u2019s patients by removing toxic proteins from the brain. While the drugs slow the disease down, the benefits are minor, and they have been rejected<\/a> for widespread use by the UK\u2019s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice).<\/p>\n

In searching for alternative therapies, scientists at UCL say drug developers should focus on two risk-raising variants of a gene named Apoe. Therapies designed to block the variants\u2019 impact have \u201cvast potential\u201d for preventing the disease, they claim.<\/p>\n

Dr Dylan Williams, a genetic epidemiologist at UCL, said: \u201cMost Alzheimer\u2019s disease cases would not arise without the contribution of just this single gene: Apoe. We need to think about it as a direct target. Almost all potential Alzheimer\u2019s cases could benefit from Apoe-related interventions.\u201d<\/p>\n

More than half a million people in the UK, and more than 40 million worldwide, are living with Alzheimer\u2019s disease, the most common form of dementia. Several genes contribute to Alzheimer\u2019s risk and lifestyle is important too: smoking, obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure and cholesterol all make the disease more likely.<\/p>\n

Williams and his colleagues analysed medical records from more than 450,000 people of European ancestry to calculate how much Alzheimer\u2019s disease arose due to different variants of the Apoe gene. People inherit two copies of the gene \u2013 one from each parent \u2013 and there are three main variants: Apoe2, 3 and 4.<\/p>\n

Scientists have long known that people with two copies of Apoe4 are high risk for Alzheimer\u2019s, though 40% to 70% never develop the disease. The Apoe3 variant is widely considered neutral and the rare Apoe2 variant is regarded as protective.<\/p>\n

But Williams said we should see it another way. Compared with carrying two copies of Apoe2, both Apoe3 and Apoe4 raise the risk of Alzheimer\u2019s, he said. Writing in the journal npj Dementia<\/a>, the team calculate that without these variants, 72% to 93% of Alzheimer\u2019s cases, and about 45% of all dementia, would not have occurred. \u201cIf interventions could eliminate the detrimental effects [of Apoe3 and 4], we could expect to prevent most Alzheimer\u2019s disease and a large proportion of all dementia,\u201d they write.<\/p>\n

That is a big if. The Apoe gene is crucial for moving cholesterol and other fats around the body and brain, so knocking it out entirely is likely to cause problems. Future therapies might edit the gene variants, or dampen down their activity, but those are neither imminent nor risk-free.<\/p>\n

Another problem is that the vast majority of people \u2013 more than 99% in the study \u2013 carry Apoe3 or Apoe4. So preventing Alzheimer\u2019s would mean treating nearly the entire population, possibly through invasive gene editing of the brain.<\/p>\n

The study received a mixed reception. Tim Frayling, professor of human genetics at the University of Geneva, said claiming more than 90% of Alzheimer\u2019s would not occur without the Apoe gene\u2019s effects was like saying more than 90% of road traffic deaths would not occur without the contribution of cars. \u201cPeople should not worry if they have the risk versions of the gene, because 99.4% of us do,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

But Tara Spires-Jones, professor of neurodegeneration at the University of Edinburgh, said understanding the risk factors that made the brain vulnerable to Alzheimer\u2019s was \u201cessential for developing effective treatments and prevention strategies\u201d, adding that Apoe was one of the most important genetic risk factors.<\/p>\n

Dr Sheona Scales, of Alzheimer\u2019s Research UK, said: \u201cEvidence around Apoe3 contributing to Alzheimer\u2019s and dementia risk is significant, as this has been largely thought of as having a neutral effect on risk. However, it\u2019s important to note that not everyone with these Apoe gene variations will go on to develop dementia, as other risk factors also have an influence.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis research raises lots of interesting questions, such as how Apoe3 and Apoe4 could drive Alzheimer\u2019s risk, their effects in people of non-European ancestry, and whether targeting these variants could be a promising avenue for treatment and prevention of Alzheimer\u2019s.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause of the complexity of Alzheimer\u2019s risk, Apoe testing is not available on the NHS for people worried about their risk of developing Alzheimer\u2019s in the future. If you are worried about your dementia risk, you should speak to your GP.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New therapies for Alzheimer\u2019s disease should target a particular gene linked to the condition, according to researchers who…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":402042,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-402041","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402041","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=402041"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402041\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/402042"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=402041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=402041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=402041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}