Disentangling genetic risks for development and progression of Alzheimer's disease

Abstract

This scientific commentary refers to ‘Towards cascading genetic risk in Alzheimer’s disease’ by Altmann et al. (https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awae176).

Figure 1

Linking Alzheimer’s disease genetic risk factors to pathobiological disease progression. Altmann and co-workers tested the effects of different genetic risk factors on transitions from A−T− to A+T−, and from A+T− to A+T+. They found that APOE ɛ4 was mainly associated with transition from A−T− to A+T− (the initial development of Alzheimer’s disease), while an Alzheimer’s disease polygenic risk score was only associated with the transition from A+T− to A+T+. A = amyloid; AD = Alzheimer’s disease; T = tau.