New hope for life-changing treatment to prevent Alzheimer’s disease by 2040 after gene breakthrough

A team at Cardiff University has identified 92 genes that significantly increase the risk of having condition - only three were known when research began in 2009
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A life-changing treatment for the most common form of Alzheimer’s disease could be available within 20 years, a leading UK expert has revealed.

Professor Julie Williams’ team at Cardiff University has identified 92 genes that significantly increase the risk of having the progressive condition - only three genes were known when their research began in 2009.

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Professor Williams, centre director at the UK Dementia Research Institute at Cardiff University, said gene therapy, along with an improved understanding from international studies, is telling researchers more every day.

She said her study of thousands of cases made her realise there will never be one clear indicator for the disease and Alzheimer’s must instead be seen more like heart disease or stroke, where many factors contribute and several therapies will help delay or prevent it.

The disease affects the brain and is the most common cause of dementia - one of the UK’s biggest killers of the over-50s.

She said: "By 2040 I think we’ll be in the position to offer a range of treatment and we might not know exactly why, but one of them will be able to act on the huge range of causes.”

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Professor Williams, who has studied Alzheimer’s for 30 years, added that some of the drugs have already been cleared for use in other conditions and could be in clinical use within five years.

The Merthyr Tydfil-born academic who was appointed a CBE for her research told BBC News: "I’ve learnt more in the last seven years than I did in the previous 20.”

She  added: "Things are speeding up and improving all the time. Once you know where to start looking then you can study the effects which genes have on specific brain activity.

"Tests which cost millions in the ‘90s can now be carried out for around £30. For example we now know that defective genes changing the way immune cells called microglia work.

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"These are the bin lorries of the brain clearing away what they see as rubbish. They may be less efficient at clearing genuine rubbish and mistakenly kill off healthy brain cells, including synapses.

"Of course synapses are the connections between neurons, so if they get eliminated when they shouldn’t then you lose connections, you lose thought, you lose memories."

Professor Tara Spires-Jones, a leading expert at the University of Edinburgh, told the Daily Mail last year that a drug to stop memory problems developing beyond initial mild confusion may be available within a decade.

She said: “I am wary of using the word cure, which is a very strong word, but I think we will have a disease-modifying drug within 10 years.

“That is a drug which can stop Alzheimer’s disease in its tracks, or even - although this is less likely - reverse it once it has started.”

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