Research Can Bring New Possibilities for Earlier Diagnosis, Preventive Treatment of Dementia

A study from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden published in Molecular Neurodegeneration analyzed the occurrence and regional distribution of Alzheimer's disease biomarkers in the brains of people with Down's syndrome, reports News-Medical . Up to 90 percent of people with Down's syndrome develop Alzheimer's disease if they live long enough. People with Down's syndrome have an extra copy of chromosome 21, and one reason for the high incidence of Alzheimer's in such individuals is that the gene coding for the production of amyloid is sited on chromosome 21, which can cause amyloid to build up in the brain in childhood. The study revealed that the incidence of the tau protein in the brain tissue of people with Down's syndrome and Alzheimer's was higher than in people with Alzheimer's but without Down's syndrome, implying that tau is an early change in Down's syndrome. The presence of tau also was detected in the brain tissue of fetuses with Down's syndrome, and the researchers think early prophylactic measures against tau accumulation could prevent the development of Alzheimer's pathology in childhood for this group. "Our studies support the need for continued research on the progress and incidence of amyloid plaque and tau in the brain by imaging the brains of live individuals with Down's syndrome," said Karolinska Institutet Professor Agneta Nordberg.