It is possible there are different ways Alzheimer's develops. Some may inherit Alzheimer's, and some may not. Three key factors indicating the disease are an accumulation of starchy protein, tangles of nerve fibers and death of selected nerve cells. Current research at major medical schools and research universities shows a wide variety of possible causes. Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers isolated a chemical disorder that impacts neurotransmitters in the brain.
Neurotransmitters transmit nerve impulses from one nerve to another.
A study reported this year shows a defect in mitochondrial genes responsible for converting oxygen into energy leads to the buildup of proteins currently blamed for causing Alzheimer's disease. It also creates a loss of energy to brain cells. In 1996, a genetic test, which works only after the onset of symptoms, confirmed an Alzheimer's diagnosis with about 98 percent accuracy in 65 percent of the cases where individuals had at least one copy of the apoliprotein E gene apoE4. Individuals with two apoE4 genes are at high risk for Alzheimer's. French biochemists have modified a drug they believe will reduce the decline in Alzheimer's patients without undesirable side effects of earlier versions of the drug.