( Alzheimer disease has a genetic cause i...)Alzheimer's found to be mostly genetic

The study appears in the February 2006 issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, a journal of the American Medical Association.

Margaret Gatz, professor of psychology in the USC College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences, led an international team of researchers from Göteborg University, Jönköping University and Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, as well as from USC, the University of California at Riverside and the University of South Florida.

Past estimates of Alzheimer's risk varied widely, with the highest numbers sometimes greeted with skepticism.

"Our finding confirms the higher estimates that have been suggested previously. The important thing is that no one has had this large a sample before," Gatz said, adding the size was 10 times that of any previous study.

The study raises doubts about the widely held view that Alzheimer's has two forms: the "familial," with genetic roots, and the "sporadic," with environmental causes.

"In essence what we're doing is taking the folks who would have formerly been called sporadic, and testing how important genetic influences are ... and we're finding genetic influences are tremendously important," Gatz said."It does suggest that there is an underlying genetic basis."

Gatz warned, "This doesn't mean that environment is not important. Environment may be relevant not only for whether but also for when one gets the disease. Also, you can't go from these results to any one individual."

Even identical twins, who share all their genes, differ in their vulnerability. The study found only a 45 percent concordance rate for identical male pairs. This means that of all pairs where one twin has Alzheimer's, 55 percent of the healthy twins either will never get the disease or will develop it later in life.

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Source:University of Southern California