New Study Analyzes Link Between Neurodegenerative Diseases and Normal Aging

The two most common neurodegenerative disorders are Alzheimer's disease and frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD). Both create serious impairments for the aging mind. A new study from researchers at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) takes a look at genes within the aging and diseased brain. Former studies have identified how to read the genes in the diseased brain. This latest study is the first attempt to compare the gene expressions in diseased brains to those of healthy brains.

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The researchers sampled DNA from the region of the brain known to be affected by Alzheimer's and FTLD. These samples were compared with similar samples from healthy individuals, age 16 to 102 years old. They noticed a striking similarity in alterations to the gene expression pattern. The diseased samples contained identical aging-related changes as the healthy samples over the age of 80.

Dr. James Tollervey, first author of the study noted, "Aging-related changes were apparent in the diseased individuals as young as 50 years, roughly 25 years before we would expect to see similar changes in healthy individuals."

The gene pattern they found most surprising was the alternative splicing. This is a process where parts of the RNA molecule are arranged differently to change the message. If mis-regulated, this could potentially be harmful.

The findings in this study indicate that studies of healthy aging could possibly reveal the processes which lead to Alzheimer's and FTLD. Also, the study of neurodegenerative diseases may help researchers understand how to delay changes in healthy people before succumbing to neurodegeneration.

The study has been published in the online journal, Genome Research.

Link to published article: http://genome.cshlp.org/content/early/2011/08/10/gr.122226.111