Five New Genes Associated With Alzheimer's Disease

U.S. and International Collaborators Led This Major Advance 

Two large consortia of researchers who published back-to-back papers in the April 3 issue of the scientific journal Nature Genetics have reported five new genes that are linked with a risk of developing Alzheimer's disease. Hundreds of researchers from top institutions worldwide pooled their human DNA resources to conduct a cutting-edge “whole genome screen.” By working together, these consortia were able to independently increase their chances of finding these five genetic “needles” from the large “haystack” of clues available in a complete DNA profile. Some of these genes are already known to be involved with fat processing, immune system functions, and cell recycling. Future research is needed to determine why having certain forms of these genes may contribute to a higher or lower likelihood of getting Alzheimer's disease.

The American Health Assistance Foundation Connection: 

On behalf of our donors, Alzheimer's Disease Research-a program of the American Health Assistance Foundation-salutes the following co-authors who are former and current grantees:

Joseph D. Buxbaum, Thomas D. Bird, Steven G. Younkin, John Hardy, Peter St George-Hyslop, Carl Cotman, Dennis Dickson, Bernardino Ghetti, Bradley Hyman, James J. Lah, Michael L. Shelanski, Rudolph Tanzi, Alison M. Goate, Jonathan L. Haines, Margaret A. Pericak-Vance, Gerard D. Schellenberg, Christine Van Broeckhoven, and Erik Roberson. The following co-authors have served as scientific advisors to American Health Assistance: Dennis Dickson, Matthew P Frosch, Doug Galasko, Edward H Koo, Allan I Levey, Rudolph Tanzi, and Gerard Schellenberg. 

See the New York Times article describing this research, which includes an interview with AHAF scientific advisor Gerald Schellenberg.

Original publications: 
Common variants at ABCA7, MS4A6A/MS4A4E, EPHA1, CD33 and CD2AP are associated with Alzheimer's disease (2011) Nature Genetics doi:10.1038/ng.803

Authors: Paul Hollingworth,1, 110 Denise Harold,1, 110 Rebecca Sims,1, 110 Amy Gerrish,1, 110 Jean-Charles Lambert,2, 3, 4, 110 Minerva M Carrasquillo,5, 110 Richard Abraham,1 Marian L Hamshere,1 Jaspreet Singh Pahwa,1 Valentina Moskvina,1 Kimberley Dowzell,1 Nicola Jones,1 Alexandra Stretton,1 Charlene Thomas,1 Alex Richards,1 Dobril Ivanov,1 Caroline Widdowson,1 Jade Chapman,1 Simon Lovestone,6, 7 John Powell,7 Petroula Proitsi,7 Michelle K Lupton,7 Carol Brayne,8 David C Rubinsztein,9 Michael Gill,10 Brian Lawlor,10 Aoibhinn Lynch,10 Kristelle S Brown,11 Peter A Passmore,12 David Craig,12 Bernadette McGuinness,12 Stephen Todd,12 Clive Holmes,13 David Mann,14 A David Smith,15 Helen Beaumont,15 Donald Warden,15 Gordon Wilcock,16 Seth Love,17 Patrick G Kehoe,17 Nigel M Hooper,18 Emma R L C Vardy,14, 18, 19 John Hardy,20, 21 Simon Mead,22 Nick C Fox,22 Martin Rossor,22 John Collinge,22 Wolfgang Maier,23, 24 Frank Jessen,23 Eckart Rüther,24, 25, 26 Britta Schürmann,23, 26 Reiner Heun,23, 27 Heike Kölsch,23 Hendrik van den Bussche,28 Isabella Heuser,29 Johannes Kornhuber,30 Jens Wiltfang,31 Martin Dichgans,32, 33 Lutz Frölich,34 Harald Hampel,35 John Gallacher,36 Michael Hüll,37 Dan Rujescu,37 Ina Giegling,36 Alison M Goate,38, 39, 40 John S K Kauwe,41 Carlos Cruchaga,38 Petra Nowotny,38 John C Morris,39 Kevin Mayo,38 Kristel Sleegers,42, 43 Karolien Bettens,42, 43 Sebastiaan Engelborghs,42, 44 Peter P De Deyn,42, 44 Christine Van Broeckhoven,42, 43 Gill Livingston,45 Nicholas J Bass,45 Hugh Gurling,45 Andrew McQuillin,45 Rhian Gwilliam,46 Panagiotis Deloukas,46 Ammar Al-Chalabi,47 Christopher E Shaw,47 Magda Tsolaki,48 Andrew B Singleton,49 Rita Guerreiro,49 Thomas W Mühleisen,50, 51 Markus M Nöthen,25, 50, 51 Susanne Moebus,52 Karl-Heinz Jöckel,52 Norman Klopp,53 H-Erich Wichmann,53, 54, 55 V Shane Pankratz,56 Sigrid B Sando,57, 58 Jan O Aasly,57, 58 Maria Barcikowska,59 Zbigniew K Wszolek,60 Dennis W Dickson,5 Neill R Graff-Radford,5, 60 Ronald C Petersen,61, 62 the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative, Cornelia M van Duijn,64, 65 Monique M B Breteler,64, 65 M Arfan Ikram,64, 65 Anita L DeStefano,66, 67 Annette L Fitzpatrick,68 Oscar Lopez,69, 70 Lenore J Launer,71 Sudha Seshadri,67, 72 CHARGE consortium, Claudine Berr,73 Dominique Campion,74 Jacques Epelbaum,75 Jean-François Dartigues,76 Christophe Tzourio,77 Annick Alpérovitch,77 Mark Lathrop,78, 79 EADI1 consortium, Thomas M Feulner,80 Patricia Friedrich,80 Caterina Riehle,80 Michael Krawczak,81, 82, 83 Stefan Schreiber,82, 83 Manuel Mayhaus,80 S Nicolhaus,83 Stefan Wagenpfeil,84 Stacy Steinberg,85 Hreinn Stefansson,85 Kari Stefansson,86 Jon Snædal,87 Sigurbjörn Björnsson,87 Palmi V Jonsson,87 Vincent Chouraki,2, 3, 4 Benjamin Genier-Boley,2, 3, 4 Mikko Hiltunen,88 Hilkka Soininen,88 Onofre Combarros,89, 90 Diana Zelenika,91 Marc Delepine,91 Maria J Bullido,90, 92 Florence Pasquier,4, 93 Ignacio Mateo,89, 90 Ana Frank-Garcia,90, 94 Elisa Porcellini,95 Olivier Hanon,96 Eliecer Coto,97 Victoria Alvarez,97 Paolo Bosco,98 Gabriele Siciliano,99 Michelangelo Mancuso,99 Francesco Panza,100 Vincenzo Solfrizzi,100 Benedetta Nacmias,101 Sandro Sorbi,101 Paola Bossù,102 Paola Piccardi,103 Beatrice Arosio,104 Giorgio Annoni,105 Davide Seripa,106 Alberto Pilotto,106 Elio Scarpini,107 Daniela Galimberti,107 Alexis Brice,108 Didier Hannequin,109 Federico Licastro,95 Lesley Jones,1 Peter A Holmans,1 Thorlakur Jonsson,85 Matthias Riemenschneider,80 Kevin Morgan,11 Steven G Younkin,5 Michael J Owen,1 Michael O'Donovan,1 Philippe Amouyel2, 3, 4, 92 & Julie Williams1 

Common variants at MS4A4/MS4A6E, CD2AP, CD33 and EPHA1 are associated with late-onset Alzheimer's disease (2011) Nature Genetics doi:10.1038/ng.801 

Authors: Adam C Naj,1, 115 Gyungah Jun,2, 3, 4, 115 Gary W Beecham,1, 5 Li-San Wang,6 Badri Narayan Vardarajan,3 Jacqueline Buros,3 Paul J Gallins,1 Joseph D Buxbaum,7, 8, 9 Gail P Jarvik,10, 11 Paul K Crane,12 Eric B Larson,13 Thomas D Bird,14 Bradley F Boeve,15 Neill R Graff-Radford,16, 17 Philip L De Jager,18, 19 Denis Evans,20 Julie A Schneider,21, 22 Minerva M Carrasquillo,16 Nilufer Ertekin-Taner,16, 17 Steven G Younkin,16 Carlos Cruchaga,23 John S K Kauwe,24 Petra Nowotny,23 Patricia Kramer,25, 26 John Hardy,27 Matthew J Huentelman,28 Amanda J Myers,29 Michael M Barmada,30 F Yesim Demirci,30 Clinton T Baldwin,3 Robert C Green,3, 31, 32 Ekaterina Rogaeva,33 Peter St George-Hyslop,33, 34 Steven E Arnold,35 Robert Barber,36 Thomas Beach,37 Eileen H Bigio,38 James D Bowen,39 Adam Boxer,40 James R Burke,41 Nigel J Cairns,42 Chris S Carlson,43 Regina M Carney,44 Steven L Carroll,45 Helena C Chui,46 David G Clark,47 Jason Corneveaux,28 Carl W Cotman,48 Jeffrey L Cummings,49 Charles DeCarli,50 Steven T DeKosky,51 Ramon Diaz-Arrastia,52 Malcolm Dick,48 Dennis W Dickson,16 William G Ellis,53 Kelley M Faber,54 Kenneth B Fallon,45 Martin R Farlow,55 Steven Ferris,56 Matthew P Frosch,57 Douglas R Galasko,58 Mary Ganguli,59 Marla Gearing,60, 61 Daniel H Geschwind,62 Bernardino Ghetti,63 John R Gilbert,1, 5 Sid Gilman,64 Bruno Giordani,65 Jonathan D Glass,66 John H Growdon,67 Ronald L Hamilton,68 Lindy E Harrell,47 Elizabeth Head,69 Lawrence S Honig,70 Christine M Hulette,71 Bradley T Hyman,67 Gregory A Jicha,72 Lee-Way Jin,53 Nancy Johnson,73 Jason Karlawish,74 Anna Karydas,40 Jeffrey A Kaye,26, 75 Ronald Kim,76 Edward H Koo,58 Neil W Kowall,31, 77 James J Lah,66 Allan I Levey,66 Andrew P Lieberman,78 Oscar L Lopez,79 Wendy J Mack,80 Daniel C Marson,47 Frank Martiniuk,81 Deborah C Mash,82 Eliezer Masliah,58, 83 Wayne C McCormick,12 Susan M McCurry,84 Andrew N McDavid,43 Ann C McKee,31, 77 Marsel Mesulam,85, 86 Bruce L Miller,40 Carol A Miller,87 Joshua W Miller,53 Joseph E Parisi,88, 89 Daniel P Perl,90 Elaine Peskind,91 Ronald C Petersen,15 Wayne W Poon,48 Joseph F Quinn,26 Ruchita A Rajbhandary,1 Murray Raskind,91 Barry Reisberg,56, 92 John M Ringman,49 Erik D Roberson,47 Roger N Rosenberg,52 Mary Sano,8 Lon S Schneider,46, 93 William Seeley,40 Michael L Shelanski,94 Michael A Slifer,1, 5 Charles D Smith,72 Joshua A Sonnen,95 Salvatore Spina,63 Robert A Stern,31 Rudolph E Tanzi,67 John Q Trojanowski,6 Juan C Troncoso,96 Vivianna M Van Deerlin,6 Harry V Vinters,49, 97 Jean Paul Vonsattel,98 Sandra Weintraub,85, 86 Kathleen A Welsh-Bohmer,41, 99 Jennifer Williamson,70 Randall L Woltjer,100 Laura B Cantwell,6 Beth A Dombroski,6 Duane Beekly,101 Kathryn L Lunetta,2 Eden R Martin,1, 5 M Ilyas Kamboh,30, 79 Andrew J Saykin,54, 102 Eric M Reiman,28, 103, 104, 105 David A Bennett,22, 106 John C Morris,42, 107 Thomas J Montine,95 Alison M Goate,23 Deborah Blacker,108, 109 Debby W Tsuang,91 Hakon Hakonarson,110 Walter A Kukull,111 Tatiana M Foroud,54 Jonathan L Haines,112, 113 Richard Mayeux,70, 114 Margaret A Pericak-Vance,1, 5 Lindsay A Farrer2, 3, 4, 31, 32 & Gerard D Schellenberg