Found in the Finnish population, a rare variant of the TYROBP gene significantly increases the risk of Alzheimer’s disease, a new study led by the University of Eastern Finland shows. This gene variant affects the function of microglia, the cells which regulate inflammation in the brain. The findings further confirm the role of altered inflammatory response and protein stress response in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease.
The Finnish disease heritage contains genetic disorders that are extremely rare elsewhere in the world. One such disorder is Nasu-Hakola disease characterized by bone cysts as well as personality changes and dementia starting between the ages of 30 to 40. In Finns, it is caused by a partial deletion in the TYROBP gene. The disease is recessively inherited, i.e., only manifesting…