Alzheimer's disease has long been in the interest of medical researchers all over the globe. With the recent findings by scientists at the Duke University, a set of genes, the "jumping genes", are found to be responsible for the molecular mechanism that causes the Alzheimer's disease.
According to an article in Medical Xpress, several studies were already conducted to study the cause of Alzheimer's disease and the results have been pretty consistent for that past two decades. Researchers found out that a protein called amyloid has been building up in the brains of the patients with the said disease.
Before, it was theorized that the amyloid was the cause of the Alzheimer's disease because, as it clumps in the brain, the dysfunction also increases. However, with the recent findings by the team of scientists from the Duke University, it was found out that the amyloid build up was just a byproduct of the Alzheimer's disease. The authors of the study published in Alzheimer's and Dementia journal proposed that the "jumping genes" could be the possible cause of this neurodegenerative disease.
Peter Larsen, one of the authors of the study, imparted that the said theory of their team revolves around the notion that the Alzheimer's disease was centered on human genes. These genes are located in the powerhouse of the cell, the mitochondria. As people ages, Larsen shared that these genes including those they referred to as the "jumping genes" tend to malfunction which can actually lead to several problems in the brain including the case of Alzheimer's or even worse, dementia.
With their team's theory, the Alu neurodegeneration hypothesis, Larsen and his colleagues aim to detect brain diseases like the Alzheimer's at its early stage. Their team first proposed the "mitochondrial cascade hypothesis" way back in 2004 which backs up their newest theory. The 2004 theory states that when there are significant changes happening in the mitochondria which houses the genes, neurons can malfunction and eventually die.
Larsen and his team are still continuing several experiments to prove their claims. Recently, their team from the Duke University just filed for a provisional patent for their study on the mitochondrial functions.
