Alzheimer’s May Involve Modified Genes in Brain Cells

[BillTre]

Brain cells from Alzheimer's patients have been found to have modifications of the amyloid precursor protein gene which forms plaques in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease.
The modifications were duplications, partial deletions, and changes in sequence. This can result in multiple copies of the gene in single cells.
These changes have not (yet) been found in other organs or other genes.

This has been described as reminiscent of somatic recombination involved in generating antibody gene diversity, but in this case has been hypothesized to be due to a reverse transcriptase enzyme (makes DNA from RNA, but in a "sloppy" manner).
There are drugs that inhibit reverse transciptase, but more info would be needed before they would be used for any treatment.

Science magazine news story here.
Nature paper behind paywall here.

 

[Ygggdrasil]

Given the authors' hypothesis that reverse transcription is required for the DNA transposition effects, It would be interesting to look at the prevalence of Alzheimer's disease in patients taking antiretroviral drugs that inhibit reverse transcriptase (e.g. those taking anti-HIV drugs). Perhaps the answer to this question is already out there, and all it takes is some data mining of electronic health records. Once complicating factor, however, is the fact that many people with HIV infections often exhibit HIV-associated neurocognative disorder (HAND), which involves dementia-like symptoms similar to Alzheimer's.

Alternatively, perhaps the DNA transposition events are a beneficial response to the underlying pathology causing dementia, and perhaps inhibition of this response by antiretroviral drugs is causative of HAND. Definitely some very interesting directions for future research.