Causative and susceptibility genes for Alzheimer disease：a brief review

Minoru Yasuda

Department of Psychiatry and Neurology, Kobe Graduate School of Medicine, Kobe

　　Alzheimer disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder and is the most common cause of dementia in the elderly.　Three causal genes, the amyloid precursor protein gene (APP), the presenilin 1 gene (PSEN1), and the presenilin 2 gene (PSEN2), have been identified in which mutations cause familial early-onset AD.　Additionally, the apolipoprotein E (APOE) ε4 allele has been reported to be a major risk factor for both familial and sporadic AD.　In this paper, I review the important genes supposed to be involved in the pathogenesis of AD, known as susceptibility genes, which have been identified by linkage or association studies.

Address correspondence to Dr. Minoru Yasuda, Department of Psychiatry and Neurology, Kobe Graduate School of Medicine, Kobe (7-5-1, Kusunoki-cho, Chuo-ku, Kobe 650-0017, Japan)