NEWS 27 March 2018
Pioneering Alzheimer’s study in Colombia zeroes in on enigmatic protein
Researchers tracking a genetic mutation that causes an early-onset form of the disease hope to uncover new drug targets.
Sara Reardon
Jhon Kennedy was building a house for his family when he realized that his 45-year-old father was beginning to struggle with daily life. His dad tried to help with the construction project but often forgot to complete simple tasks. And he kept getting lost on the way home from work.
Jhon Kennedy wasn’t surprised: his four uncles had also started to lose their memories, one by one. But their doctors in Colombia's rural Antioquia region, which is known for its mountainous terrain and coffee plantations, had never heard of early-onset dementia. It wasn’t until a cousin learned about a study of Alzheimer’s disease at the University of Antioquia in MedellÃn that Jhon Kennedy’s relatives understood the illness they faced. For more than three decades, researchers there have been tracking a genetic mutation — common in the region — that causes Alzheimer’s to strike people in their 40s and 50s.
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-03848-4
