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Is disorder that causes Dementia hereditary?
Newswise — New research shows that a rare brain disorder
that causes early dementia is highly
hereditary. The study is published in the
November 3, 2009, issue of Neurology®,
the medical journal of the American Academy
of Neurology.
The brain disorder, called frontotemporal dementia, is
formerly known as Pick’s disease and
destroys parts of the brain, leading to
dementia, including problems with language
or changes in behavior and personality. The
disease often affects people under the age
of 65.
“Knowing your family’s health history may be one way for
people to better predict their risk of
developing dementia,” said study author
Jonathan Rohrer, MRCP Clinical Research
Fellow at the Dementia Research Center at
the University College London in the United
Kingdom.
For the study, blood was drawn from 225 people who were
diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia. The
people were asked about family history of
dementia and given a score of one through
four.
A score of one represents a person who had at least three
relatives with dementia and an autosomal
dominant inheritance, meaning that an
affected person has one mutant gene and one
normal gene and has a 50-percent chance of
passing the mutant gene and therefore the
disorder on to their offspring.
A score of four represents a person with no family history
of dementia.
The study found that nearly 42 percent of
participants scored between a one and a 3.5,
meaning they had some family history of
dementia. However, only 10 percent had an
autosomal dominant gene history.
The people in the study also had their DNA tested for five
gene mutations thought to cause
frontotemporal dementia. Mutations were
found in two of the five genes.
“Many people were still found to have a strong family
history of dementia even without having any
of the five known gene mutations, suggesting
that there are still unknown genes that
cause frontotemporal dementia,” said Rohrer.
“Discovering new genes and gene mutations
could provide another key to unlocking the
doors to new treatments and prevention
strategies for dementia.”
The study also found that behavioral problems associated
with frontotemporal dementia were the most
likely to be hereditary, while language
problems were the least likely to be
hereditary.
The study is supported by the United Kingdom Department of
Health’s NIHR Biomedical Research Centers,
the Medical Research Council UK and the
Alzheimer’s Research Trust in the United
Kingdom.
November is National Alzheimer’s Awareness Month.
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