Scientists Assemble Chronological Account of How Alzheimer’s Develops

Scientists from the Washington University School of Medicine have assembled the most detailed timeline to date of the human brain’s slow descent into full-blown Alzheimer’s disease. The data appears in the July 11 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine.

As part of an international research partnership called the Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer’s Network (DIAN), researchers at Washington University and elsewhere evaluated a variety of pre-symptomatic markers of Alzheimer’s disease in 128 subjects from families that are genetically predisposed to develop the disorder. Individuals who participated in the study have a 50 percent chance of inheriting one of three mutations that are certain to cause Alzheimer’s, often at an unusually young age. For more information, click here to read the full release.