A GENE that is linked to Alzheimer’s disease may also be involved in a type
of blindness that afflicts more than 1 in 10 people over the age of 80.
One version of the gene for apolipoprotein E (Apo-E), which helps to maintain
nerve cell membranes, substantially raises the risk of Alzheimer’s. A team led
by Caroline Klaver at Erasmus University in Rotterdam checked the Apo-E
gene of 88 patients with vision loss as a result of age-related macular
degeneration (AMD), along with that of 901 controls. They found that another
version of Apo-E increases the risk of AMD by 50 per cent.
The results appear in this month’s American Journal of Human
Genetics (vol 63, p 200).
