New insight into the cause of common dementia
November 18th, 2010 - 1:27 pm ICT by ANIWashington, Nov 18 (ANI): Scientists have discovered a clue as to how some people develop a form of dementia that affects the brain areas associated with personality, behavior, and language.
Researchers at the Mayo Clinic campus in Florida said they found a link between two proteins - progranulin and sortilin - which might open new avenues for the treatment of frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD), which occurs in the frontal lobe and temporal lobe of the brain.
This form of dementia, which is currently untreatable, generally occurs in younger people, compared to other common neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease.
“We now can look for a direct link between these two proteins and the development of FTLD,” said the study’s lead author, neuroscientist Rosa Rademakers.
“The hope is that if we do find a strong association, it might be possible to manipulate levels of one or both of these proteins therapeutically,” the author said.
Based on their previous findings that a simple blood test is able to measure progranulin levels in plasma and could be used to identify patients with progranulin mutations, they tested blood from 518 healthy individuals in a GWAS to look for genetic variants that could explain some of the normal variability of progranulin levels in plasma.
They found very strong association with two genetic variants in the same region of chromosome 1 and confirmed this finding in a second group of 495 healthy individuals.
By reviewing the scientific literature, they further ascertained that the same genetic variant found to be associated with plasma progranulin levels also affects the levels of the protein sortilin.
Like progranulin, sortilin is found throughout the body and is involved in different tasks. In the brain, it is known to be important for survival of brain neurons.
The researchers then studied the two proteins in cell culture and showed that the amount of sortilin in cells determines how much progranulin is taken inside or remains outside of a cell.
The study was published in the Nov. 17 online issue of the American Journal of Human Genetics. (ANI)
- Gene that protects against dementia in high-risk individuals found - Dec 23, 2010
- New risk factor for second-most-common cause of early dementia onset found - Feb 16, 2010
- Malaria drug may help treat specific form of dementia - Feb 03, 2011
- Inability to detect sarcasm, lies may be early sign of dementia - Apr 16, 2011
- Loss of key protein contributes to neuron loss in ALS - Mar 05, 2011
- Defects in immune system enzyme 'raise arthritis, diabetes risk' - Jun 17, 2010
- Blood test predicts chance of dementia - Mar 06, 2009
- Dementia drug could be 'within our grasp', say Oz scientists - Oct 29, 2010
- Gene variant linked to a form of irregular heartbeat identified - Feb 22, 2010
- First genetic link to common migraine found - Aug 30, 2010
- Scientists isolate gene that protects against Alzheimer's - Jul 13, 2012
- Genetic clues to prevent Alzheimer's discovered - Apr 04, 2011
- Junk food could also damage brain, says study - Aug 30, 2012
- Now, simple blood test to predict dementia risk - Mar 06, 2009
- Largest genetic study of anorexia nervosa detects common, rare variants - Nov 20, 2010
Tags: blood test, brain areas, brain neurons, cell culture, chromosome 1, dementia, frontal lobe, genetic variant, genetic variants, language researchers, lobar, mayo clinic, neurodegenerative disorders, new avenues, personality behavior, progranulin, rademakers, second group, strong association, temporal lobe of the brain