Identification of this epigenetic process highlights potential drug treatment strategies for early-stage disease treatment — ScienceDaily
New findings suggest that late-onset Alzheimer’s Disease is driven by epigenetic changes — how and when certain genes are turned on and off — in the brain. Results were published today in Nature Genetics.
Research led by Raffaella Nativio, PhD, a former research associate of Epigenetics, Shelley Berger, PhD, a professor of Genetics, Biology and Cell and Developmental Biology and Director of the Epigenetics Institute, and Nancy Bonini, PhD, a professor of Biology and Cell and Developmental Biology, all in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, used post-mortem brain tissue to compare healthy younger and older brain cells to those with Alzheimer’s Disease. The team found evidence that epigenetic regulators disable protective pathways and enable pro-disease pathways in those with the disease.
“The last five years have seen great efforts to develop therapeutics to treat Alzheimer’s disease, but sadly, they have failed in the clinic