Researchers at the Marqués de Valdecilla University Hospital and the Valdecilla Sanitary Research Institute Foundation (IDIVAL), under the Spanish Ministry of Health, have discovered that a genetic variant in the PLCG2 gene protects against several forms of dementia.
According to the results of the study, carried out in collaboration with researchers from Academic Medical Center (AMC) of the University of Amsterdam, this genetic variation not only protects against Alzheimer’s disease, but also against other forms of neurodegenerative disorders such as frontotemporal dementia and Lewy body dementia, informs the Government of the Autonomous Community of Cantabria, Spain.
Dr. Pascual Sánchez-Juan, a neurologist at the Valdecilla Cognitive Impairment Unit and co-author of the study, said the study “gives us important clues about what are the genetic characteristics and the metabolic pathways associated with a long life free of dementia.”
He explained that until now it was known that one of the carriers of this genetic variant had a “two times lower” probability of developing Alzheimer’s dementia compared to non-carriers.
Now, he said, “it seems that carrying the variant also protects against other forms of neurodegeneration and that carriers of this variant are twice as likely to reach a hundred years without dementia.”
Dr. Sánchez-Juan stressed that the study also allowed us to observe that the PLCG2 gene variant has been especially frequent in centenarian individuals followed by researchers from the University of Amsterdam.
This genetic variant in the PLCG2 gene, which plays an important role in the immune system, “leads to a change in the structure of the PLCG2 protein, which probably alters its functioning in the immune response processes,” said the neurologist.
Source: Agencia ID
