A man in Colombia possesses a rare and unique gene that makes him immune to Alzheimer disease. He is the second person in the world to be found with such special genes. The man was discovered by an international team of researchers in Colombia. He earns a living as a machinery repairman.
Initially, the research team found that the man carried a mutation in the Paia gene. This gene increases the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease, according to the Daily Mail.

Normally, a person would develop Alzheimer's around the age of 40 and pass away at around 60 years old. Genetic factors are the most common cause of early-onset Alzheimer's and reduced life expectancy for patients.
However, at the age of 67, neurologists examined the man's health and made a miraculous discovery. Instead of suffering from Alzheimer's, his cognitive abilities and intellect remained normal. Neither the patient nor his family noticed any abnormalities in his memory. Subsequent research revealed that the reason behind this extraordinary phenomenon was due to a rare variant of a gene that helped the man nearly avoid Alzheimer's disease.

This gene is called reelin and is likened to being "naturally immune" to the disease. In other words, the man carries a gene that triggers early-onset Alzheimer's, but also possesses a gene that provides immunity to the disease. This rare case was published by researchers in the scientific journal Nature Medicine. Thanks to this gene, the man lived to be 74 years old with only moderate memory loss. Upon closer examination of his brain, researchers noticed characteristic signs of Alzheimer's disease, such as the formation of amyloid plaques and abnormal accumulation of TAU protein. However, TAU protein accumulation was minimal in the hippocampus, a region crucial for memory.

This surprised the researchers. They hope that this new discovery will provide hope for delaying or even preventing the progression of Alzheimer's disease.

The first person to be found with a variant of the gene that resists Alzheimer's disease was Aliria Rosa Piedrahita de Villegas in Colombia. She was discovered by researchers in 2019.This gene was named Christchurch. She passed away in November 2020 due to cancer, according to the Daily Mail.

Source: www.thanhnien.vn

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