FLORIDA TEAM SPOTS GENETIC FLAW AS CAUSE OF ALZHEIMER'S

Researchers at the University of South Florida who have found a genetic flaw that causes Alzheimer's disease say the discovery will allow scientists to track the illness from its inception.

Researchers said the genetic error was very rare but that anyone carrying it would develop the disease."If you had this defective gene, you would develop Alzheimer's," said Dr. Mike Mullen, co-director of the USF Alzheimer's Disease Labs.

Alzheimer's results in a progressive loss of memory and deterioration of personality and mental capacity.

Nearly 4 million Americans suffer from the disease, for which there is no effective treatment or cure.

The genetic mistake was found in a gene that produces amyloid, a family of proteins found in the brains of Alzheimer's patients.

"All Alzheimer's sufferers have large amounts of this protein in their brain," said Mullen.

"Part of the excitement is what we can do with this discovery," Mullen said. "We can produce the first steps of the onset of the disease. That allows us to design a laboratory-based model for Alzheimer's."

Mullen said inducing the disease in laboratory animals, then testing them with different drugs, could lead to a treatment of the disease in humans.

The findings were documented in a genetic study published in the August issue of Nature Genetic. The study followed two large Swedish families whose members were afflicted with Alzheimer's and were discovered to have the genetic mutation.

While there is currently no test commercially available to determine if a person has the defective gene, Mullen said prenatal tests such as amniocentesis could detect the defective gene, thereby determining whether a person would come down with Alzheimer's later in life.