Alzheimer's news: More than a hundred key 'memory' genes identified by researchers

It means drugs being developed to combat the devastating neurological illness could be given to patients sooner - even decades before symptoms develop.

Researcher has shown the greatest fear for people is they may end their days slipping into dementia - even ahead of suffering heart disease or cancer.

A new study is the first to find links between genes and brain activity during memory processing - providing a new window into memory.

Dr Genevieve Konopka of University of Texas Southwestern said: "This is very exciting because the identification of these gene-to-behaviour relationships opens up new research avenues for testing the role of these genes in specific aspects of memory function and dysfunction.

"It means we are closer to understanding the molecular mechanisms supporting human memory and thus will be able to use this information someday to assist with all kinds of memory issues."

Her findings presented to a Cognitive Neuroscience Society conference in San Francisco is part of the emerging field of 'imaging genetics' which investigates mutations in the function and anatomy of the brain.

A pill to combat dementia is predicted to be available within a decade.

Only in December a widely anticipated drug called solanezumab failed.

But experts believe this was because it was given to people with early Alzheimer's which even then may have been too late because irreversible brain damage had already occurred.

Identifying patients likely to develop memory problems would in future allow medications to be prescribed even sooner.

While past work has aimed to connect behaviour to genes researchers have lacked neural markers - which can provide a powerful bridge between the two.

Dr Evelina Fedorenko, of Harvard Medical School in Boston, who is chairing the symposium on imaging genetics, said: "Genes shape the anatomy and functional organisation of the brain and these structural and functional characteristics give rise to the observable behaviours."

The field is now possible because genotyping has become progressively cheaper and easier with large scanning datasets increasingly available.

Dr Konopka and colleagues used two sets of data to unravel the patterns of gene expression in the brain.

These included the results of bits of DNA called RNA in brain tissue from post mortems and the activity of neurons from epilepsy patients undergoing an EEG (electroencephalogram (EEG) in which a skull cap is worn.

Dr Konopka said: "We measure RNA as a proxy for gene expression in the brain. Quantitating RNA in the brain requires extracting RNA from the brain tissue itself.

"Thus, we are limited to accessing brain tissue post-mortem, or, in rare occasions, can obtain tissue from surgical resections of the brain."

The goal was to pinpoint genes important for 'normal cognition' such as learning and memory - both of which begin to fail as dementia develops.

Previous work has established certain groups of genes have altered gene expression in individuals with cognitive problems.
Dr Konopka said the genes they looked at in the subjects with epilepsy are not affected by the condition - meaning they will apply to the general population.

She said: "At this point, we cannot say whether the gene expression itself might drive memory or whether it's simply a reflection of the brain activity patterns needed for proper memory formation."
The memory genes also overlap with several linked to autism which offers new insights into that condition.

Dr Fedorenko said: "Given the inherently interdisciplinary nature of this emerging field of research, I hope many young neuroscientists and geneticists will get excited about possibilities of new critical discoveries and join our efforts by bringing in fresh energy and revolutionary ideas, so that together we can understand how genes give rise to our neural and cognitive architecture."

Alzheimer's is often diagnosed after people experience lapses in their memory, have difficulty remembering recent events and struggle to process new information.

Detecting the condition before it happens is the 'holy grail' for treatments and potential cures.

It is believed those born with certain genes have a predisposition to brain changes associated with dementia which affects 850,000 people in the UK alone - which will rise to one million by 2025.

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