Twin studies show that environmental factors play an important role in the pathology of Alzheimer's disease

Genetic and environmental issues play an important role in brain aging research.
Researchers at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) Center for Healthy Brain Aging (CHeBA) in Sydney The brain has revealed new insights into the influence of genes and environment on amyloid plaques, one of the hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease
.

News from the University of New South Wales on December 20

The research, published in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry , was led by Dr.
Rebecca Koncz and used a special imaging technique called amyloid PET.
To determine how much of amyloid accumulation is genetically determined, and how much is determined by environmental or modifiable risk factors (such as high blood pressure and high cholesterol) , this is the world's first study in this field
.

The study was published in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry (latest impact factor: 10.
154) on December 17, 2021

"Amyloid is a protein that accumulates in the brain early in the development of Alzheimer's disease.
This hallmark feature began to appear decades before memory problems became obvious," said Dr.
Koncz
.

According to Professor Perminder Sachdev, co-director of CHeBA and head of Australian study on elderly twins, twins provide a unique opportunity to study the relative importance of genetic and life> , as identical twins share 100% of the Genetic material, and fraternal twins share an estimated 50% of the genetic material
.

Australia has one of the world's leading twin registration institutions, the Australian Twins Research Centre, whose members participated in this research
.

Professor Perminder Sachdev

The researchers found that the heritability of amyloid is moderate, which means that genes only play a moderate role in determining changes in the accumulation of amyloid in the brain
.

"This is important because it tells us that although genes are important, there is actually a major environmental factor that may respond well to intervention ," said Dr.
Koncz
.

"Regarding modifiable risk factors, we studied whether vascular risk factors such as high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol, or a history of heart disease are significantly associated with amyloid load, or whether there is any common genetic basis," Dr.
Koncz said
.

Dr.
Rebecca Koncz

Although this study did not find a link between vascular risk factors and amyloid, more research is needed
.

Professor Perminder Sachdev said: " Identifying the risk factors that can be changed will lead us to take active interventions to reduce the risk of amyloid accumulation-and ultimately reduce the risk of Alzheimer's disease
.

The University of New South Wales founded in 1949

references

Source: University of New South Wales

Twins Study Indicates Environmental Factors Significant in Alzheimer's Pathology

Reference:

Koncz R, Thalamuthu A, Wen W, et al The heritability of amyloid burden in older adults: the Older Australian Twins StudyJournal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry Published Online First: 17 December 2021.

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