New hope for breakthrough Alzheimer’s treatment within 20 years after scientists uncover 92 genes

Alzheimer’s experts believe that a life-changing treatment for the most common form of the disease will be found within 20 years.

A team from Cardiff University has now identified 92 genes that significantly increase the risk of Alzheimer’s, while only three genes were known when their research began in 2009.

Professor Julie Williams, director of the Cardiff Dementia Centre, said: ‘I think by 2040 we will be able to offer a range of treatments and we may not know exactly why, but one of them will be able to to respond to the enormous range of causes.’

Gene therapy and a better understanding of international studies are contributing to increasing expert knowledge about the disease – one of the leading causes of death of over-50s in the UK.

Professor Williams, who received a CBE for her work, said: ‘Once you know where to start looking, you can study the effects genes have on specific brain activity.

A team from Cardiff University has now identified 92 genes that significantly increase the risk of Alzheimer’s (stock image)

She has studied Alzheimer’s disease for 30 years and said, “Things are getting faster and better. I have learned more in the past seven years than in the previous twenty years.

“Tests that cost millions in the 1990s can be done for around £30.”

Advances in research have led experts to discover that microglial cells, known as “brain garbage trucks,” falsely kill healthy brain cells, including synapses.

Synapses are connections between neurons and, if they are eliminated unnecessarily, can cause a person to lose connections that generate thoughts and memories.

But Professor Williams told the BBC her study of thousands of cases made her realize there will never be one smoking gun.

Instead, the disease should be viewed more as a heart condition, with many contributing factors, and different therapies will help delay and prevent it.

Some drugs are already approved for use in other Alzheimer’s disease conditions and could be in use within five years.

Professor Tara Spiers-Jones, a leading expert at the University of Edinburgh, told the Daily Mail last year that a drug may be available within a decade to prevent memory problems from progressing beyond initially mild confusion.

Some drugs are already approved for use in other Alzheimer’s conditions and could be in use within five years (stock image)

She said: ‘I’m hesitant to use the word cure, which is a very strong word, but I think within 10 years we’ll have a disease-modifying drug.

‘That is a drug that can halt Alzheimer’s disease, or even – although less likely – reverse it once it has started.

“I know all these decades of research can seem daunting if there’s still no cure for Alzheimer’s disease, but groundbreaking miracle cures have been found for other brain diseases, and one is coming for this one.”

Professor Spiers-Jones said neuroscience had some major victories recently, including Zolgensma’s discovery, which helps children with severe spinal muscular atrophy to crawl and walk for the first time.

The expert is particularly excited about research into the ‘Sigma-2 receptor’, found on brain cells, which appears to attract clumps of a protein called amyloid beta, which are linked to Alzheimer’s disease.

Early research, though only involving 19 people, suggests that a drug that blocks this process could prevent the progression of Alzheimer’s disease.