Women With Down Syndrome Show More Advanced Alzheimer's Signs At Diagnosis

According to investigation by nan University of California, Irvine, women pinch Down syndrome person much precocious signs of Alzheimer's illness than men do astatine nan mean property of diagnosis, which is nan aforesaid for some sexes. The findings, published successful Alzheimer's & Dementia: The Journal of nan Alzheimer's Association, can style really we understand and attack treatments for Alzheimer's successful this organization and beyond. The National Institutes of Health supported nan study.

If women pinch Down syndrome are further on successful illness progression astatine nan clip of diagnosis, it could alteration really we clip interventions and construe outcomes successful objective trials. This investigation could thief tailor therapies much effectively, not conscionable for group pinch Down syndrome, but for nan broader Alzheimer's organization arsenic well."

Elizabeth Head, corresponding author, UC Irvine professor of pathology

Alzheimer's illness is nan superior origin of decease for individuals pinch Down syndrome, who are genetically predisposed to create nan information earlier successful life. While erstwhile studies observed that women pinch Down syndrome whitethorn unrecorded longer pinch dementia than men who person Down syndrome, fewer person looked intimately astatine whether nan underlying encephalon pathology differs by sex. In this study, nan researchers examined postmortem encephalon samples from nan UC Irvine Alzheimer's Disease Research Center Brain Tissue Repository and nan NIH NeuroBioBank, measuring levels of 2 hallmark Alzheimer's proteins: beta amyloid and phosphorylated tau.

The results propose that women pinch Down syndrome whitethorn transportation a higher load of these disease-related proteins than men, peculiarly successful nan occipital lobe, which is an area typically affected later successful illness some for group pinch Down syndrome and for women pinch sporadic Alzheimer illness – nan much common, late-onset shape of Alzheimer's that occurs without a clear familial cause.

This penetration points to nan request for much sex-specific approaches successful some Alzheimer's investigation and curen planning, particularly successful nan creation of objective trials.

"Understanding selective vulnerabilities wrong nan encephalon and really these disagree successful women versus men will thief america to amended navigate curen outcomes. We're learning nan value of modifiable consequence factors, which includes accounting for sex-specific risk," said nan study's lead author, Elizabeth Andrews, a Ph.D. campaigner successful Head's laboratory group.

The investigation squad will adjacent analyse whether sex-based differences widen to different types of pathology – specified arsenic humor alloy integrity, achromatic matter connectivity and further contributors to dementia – and really those findings correlate pinch biomarker information collected during life. These efforts will thief beforehand nan section of precision medicine and connection much personalized strategies for Alzheimer's attraction and prevention.