Long CCG repeats in FAM193B promoter raise Alzheimer's risk, HKUST-led study finds

Researchers at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and collaborating institutions have identified a repeating stretch of DNA as a new clue to Alzheimer's susceptibility, reporting the work in Nature Neuroscience. Longer CCG repeats in the promoter region of the FAM193B gene increased the odds of Alzheimer's disease. In two Chinese cohorts totaling 1,516 patients and 1,674 cognitively normal participants, people whose longer repeat copy carried at least 18 CCG repeats had roughly twice the odds of the disease compared with those carrying no more than 11. An analysis of UK Biobank participants of European ancestry, comprising 2,674 cases and 22,996 controls, found a weaker association, using different repeat thresholds. Whether the same thresholds apply across ancestries, and how the repeats act biologically, remain open questions.

Written by a model from the reports · updated 3 hours ago