Gene finds offer new Alzheimer’s hope

Five new genetic links to Alzheimer’s have been uncovered, raising the prospect of future treatments.

The discoveries mean a total of 10 genes are now known to play a role in late-onset Alzheimer’s, the most common form of dementia.

Eradicating the effects of all of them would remove 60 per cent of the illness in the population, amounting to around 300,000 cases in the UK.

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Leading researcher Professor Julie Williams said it may one day be possible to identify those people most at risk and offer preventative drugs.

“I can envisage in 10 to 15 years’ time we may be taking a number of drugs to prevent the onset of Alzheimer’s in the same way as we take statins now to prevent the onset of heart disease,” said Prof Williams, a researcher at the Medical Research Council Centre at the University of Cardiff.

An estimated 750,000 people are living with dementia in the UK, 62 per cent of whom have Alzheimer’s. By 2021 their numbers are expected to soar to almost a million.

The costs of Alzheimer’s to the UK economy have been estimated at around £23bn a year, more than heart disease and cancer.