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Genes for Alzheimer Dementia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 September 2015

J. Theuns  and
C. Van Broeckhoven
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Extract

Alzheimer disease (AD), the most common form of dementia in the elderly, is rapidly becoming a major health problem in developed countries where the number of elderly people continuously grows due to improved medical care. Consequently, the number of AD patients is increasing and thus far no effective therapies are available. Clinically the disease can be diagnosed with 90% reliability on the basis of neurological examination, neuropsychological testing and brain imaging techniques. A definite diagnosis, however, requires the post-mortem detection of senile plaques (SPs) and neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) in the brain. The SPs are extracellular deposits mainly composed of amyloid P (Ap) surrounded by dystrophic neurites. NFT are intraneural inclusions of paired helical filaments composed of hyperphosphorylated tau.

Although age is the major risk factor for AD, population survey and family studies have provided substantial evidence that genetic factors are major contributors to the expression of AD.

Keywords

Amyloid precursor protein alzheimer diseasegeneticspresenilins
Type
Research Article
Information
Acta Neuropsychiatrica , Volume 11 , Issue 2 , June 1999 , pp. 60 - 62
Copyright
Copyright © Scandinavian College of Neuropsychopharmacology 1999

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