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Professor Julie Williams led an international team in discovering two new genes associated with Alzheimer's disease. The results, from the largest ever Alzheimer's disease genome-wide association study (GWAS) involving 16,000 individuals, are published in the magazine Nature Genetics.

The Cardiff University-based study was funded by the Welsh Assembly Government, Wellcome Trust, Medical Research Council and Alzheimer's Research Trust among others. The Wales-led research also involved scientists from universities in London, Cambridge, Nottingham, Southampton, Manchester, Oxford, Bristol and Belfast, who collaborated with Irish, German, Belgian, Greek and American institutions.

Previously only one gene, APOE4, had been shown to be a risk factor for Alzheimer's disease. This study reveals two further genes, CLU and PICALM, are related to Alzheimer's disease.

The paper's lead-author, Professor Julie Williams, Chief Scientific Adviser to the Alzheimer's Research Trust who works at Cardiff University, said:

"Both CLU and PICALM highlight new pathways that lead to Alzheimer's disease. CLU is a clusterin - a type of protein - which normally protects the brain in a variety of ways. Variation in this gene could remove this protection and contribute to Alzheimer's development. PICALM is important at synapses - connections between brain cells - and is involved in the transport of molecules into and inside of nerve cells, helping form memories and other brain functions. We know that the health of synapses is closely related to memory performance in Alzheimer's disease, thus changes in genes which affect synapses are likely to have a direct effect on disease development."

"This research is changing our understanding of what causes the common form of Alzheimer's disease and provides valuable new leads in the race to find treatments and possibly cures."

"It also shows that other genes can be identified using this method, and the group are already planning a larger study involving 60,000 people, which can be achieved within the next year."

The First Minister for Wales, Rhodri Morgan, said:

"This major breakthrough in the battle to understand and develop  treatments for Alzheimer's is good news for the 37,000 people in Wales and their carers who are affected by Alzheimer's or other forms of dementia. It is a real feather in the cap of  Welsh science that this important global study has been led by a Welsh scientist, Professor Julie Williams,  and that the Welsh Assembly Government was able to give financial support for her work. World-class research like this will help lead to improved treatment for this distressing disease, and may one day even mean we can cure dementia."

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