THE GENETICS OF DEMENTIA IN LATE LIFE - 11/09/11
Résumé |
The past decade has seen a rapid growth in knowledge concerning the genetics of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and other late-life dementias. The recent identification of specific genes critical in the development of many AD cases has provided for the first time a strong basis to examine gene–environment interactions and to investigate some of the preclinical correlates of dementia. Discoveries related to AD may hold lessons for the genetics of vascular dementia and for less common dementias of late life, such as frontal lobe dementia, Pick's disease, and Lewy body disease. Such findings are of importance to the clinician in that they raise questions similar to those debated in other areas of medicine about the role of genetic counseling and even testing for late-life dementias. Here we review recent developments in the genetics of late-life dementias, with an emphasis on AD, and discuss the clinical implications of these findings especially for counseling family members on the actual risk of developing the disease.
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Address reprint requests to Brenda L. Plassman, PhD Department of Psychiatry, Box 41 905 West Main Street Durham, NC 27701 This work was supported by a NIA Training Grant in Aging (AG-00029). |
Vol 20 - N° 1
P. 59-76 - mars 1997 Retour au numéroBienvenue sur EM-consulte, la référence des professionnels de santé.
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