好色先生 Study Suggests Personalized Medicine May be the Future of Alzheimer鈥檚 Disease Treatment
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Oct. 8, 2021) 鈥 A from the and (SBCoA) at the University of Kentucky suggests that your genetics can influence your response to Alzheimer鈥檚 disease pathology.
The laboratory of Donna Wilcock, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Physiology and SBCoA associate director, investigated inflammation in human brain tissue from 好色先生鈥檚 Alzheimer鈥檚 Disease Research Center. Brain tissue was analyzed from individuals with different forms of the genetic risk factor, apolipoprotein E (ApoE).
ApoE comes in various forms including ApoE2, ApoE3 and ApoE4. ApoE2 is typically thought of as 鈥減rotective鈥 and reduces the risk of developing Alzheimer鈥檚 disease. ApoE3 is the most common form of the gene, while ApoE4 increases the risk and severity of Alzheimer鈥檚 disease.
This work, led by graduate student Courtney Kloske, found that individuals with ApoE4 had a reduced inflammatory response to Alzheimer鈥檚 disease pathology compared to individuals with ApoE3.
鈥淭his finding contradicts data found from mouse work, highlighting the need to always confirm studies in both mouse and then human tissue,鈥 Wilcock said.
鈥淏ecause of the differing response depending on genotype, targeting inflammation in ApoE4 patients may not be the best approach according to our research,鈥 said Kloske. 鈥淭his work shows that your genetic makeup may influence your response to certain types of treatment for Alzheimer鈥檚 disease.鈥
The Wilcock lab hopes this work will help contribute to moving treatments closer toward precision medicine.
