Introduction genetic determinants of mid and lat

Authors: G M Martin

Publish Date: 2014/02/06

Volume: 54, Issue: 9, Pages: 895-896

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Abstract

We introduce a series of papers dealing with genetic aspects of a subset of dementias of midlife and latelife in order to illustrate four principles First there appear to be many genetic loci with the potential to modulate susceptibility to such dementias Second most of those so far discovered are autosomal dominants and none are autosomal recessives Third the autosomal dominant mutations are individually rare Their frequencies in a given population are likely to be functions of genetic drift Fourth despite their rarity they may inform us about the pathogenesis of more common latelife dementias notably dementias of the Alzheimer type which have polygenic determinants The most important such modulation so far discovered involves polymorphic forms of the APOE locus

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