Ekaterina Rogaeva, PhD, Associate Professor, Centre for Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases, University of Toronto, Department of Medicine, Toronto, ON.

There are at least four well-confirmed genes responsible for Alzheimer’s disease (AD), the most common form of dementia. In addition, many reports indicate an association between the disease and genetic variations in different gene candidates. The complexity and interpretation of these studies are discussed using, as an example, the recent discovery of the association between AD and the SORL1 gene. The knowledge obtained from AD genetics is applicable to many other forms of dementia, which are also genetically complex disorders and are almost all associated with the deposition of different aberrant proteins in the brain.
Key words: Alzheimer’s disease, gene, APP, APOE, SORL1.