Since
1995 we have been studying Alzheimer's disease in
Jewish and Arab populations in Israel. These
investigations are underway as a collaboration with
scientists in the Department of Neurology, Tel Aviv
University.
All of
the known Alzheimer's disease genes are dominant (APP, presenilin 2
and 1) or co-dominant (apolipoprotein E). There are
no known genes for Alzheimer's disease that are recessive. Studies in
inbred communities in Canada have suggested that
inbreeding is a risk factor for the disease. Since
1995 we have been working with in Arab community in
northern Israel in Wadi Ara. We have found a high
prevalence of the disease in this community and a
very low prevalence of the apolipoprotein E e4
allele. With out collaborators, Rivka Inzelberg , MD of
the Hillel Yaffe Medical Center, Technion University,
Haifa, and Lindsay Farrer, PhD, of
Boston university,
we are investigating the genetic and environmental
factors for the disease in Wadi Ara.
There have been
very few studies of brain aging in any Arab
community, anywhere in the world. We have recently
reported linkage of the disease to genetic loci on
chromosomes 2, 9,10 and 12.
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