Scientists have successfully detected 14 new genes potentially linked with Alzheimer's disease.

Researchers who successfully generated a stem cell model of familial Alzheimer's disease (FAD), have found that of the total 14 genes found there is one gene in particular which demonstrates the important role inflammation may play in the brain of Alzheimer's patients.

A team of scientists at The New York Stem Cell Foundation (NYSCF) Research Institute and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
(ISMMS) produced stem cells and neural precursor cells (NPCs), representing early neural progenitor cells that build the brain from patients with severe early-onset AD with mutations in the Presenilin 1(PSEN1) gene.

These levels were greater than those in adult cells that did not have the PSEN1 mutation.  These NPCs had elevated Abeta42/Abeta40 ratios, indicating elevation of the form of amyloid found in the brains of Alzheimer's patients.

This elevated ratio shows that the NPCs grown in the petri dish accurately reflected the cells in the brains of FAD patients.  Sam Gandy, co-author on the study said that the gene expression profile from the familial Alzheimer's stem cells points to inflammation, which is especially exciting because we would not usually associate inflammation with this particular Alzheimer's gene.