Alzheimers Disease Gene Link to African Americans Identified

University of Miami Miller School of Medicine researchers joined forces with an international research team in order to detect a new gene that associates African Americans and Alzheimer's disease together. In an article found in the Journal of the American Medical Association publication, the study entitled "Variants in the ATP-binding cassette transporter, ABCA7, and the apolipoprotein E ε4 allele substantially and equally influence risk of late-onset Alzheimer's disease in African Americans" showcases new directions when it comes to therapeutic, genetic, and biological studies concerning Alzheimer's. Currently, the research is said to be the biggest genome-based associated study done on African Americans with late-onset Alzheimer's.

Furthermore, it included 3,928 controls and 1,968 cases over the course of 1989 to 2011, collected from multiple sites and sources. The director for the John P. Hussman Institute for Human Genomics and one of several senior authors of the study—Margaret A. Perricak-Vance, Ph.D.—is the leader of the analysis group for the Genetics Consortium for Alzheimer's Disease, which is in turn responsible for the paper.

At any rate, according to Perricak-Vance, this study was important in the assessment and identification of genetic contributions that could lead to Alzheimer's development in all populations, not just the African American segment of the community. Disparities in health is particularly profound within America's urban demographic, such that there are fewer studies that include the population.