A study from Mass General Brigham indicates that inheriting Alzheimer’s disease risk from the maternal side is linked to higher amyloid levels in the brain, suggesting potential targets for early prevention in Alzheimer’s disease. A recent study conducted by researchers from Mass General Brigham indicates that the parent from whom a person inherits Alzheimer’s disease risk may affect the likelihood of biological changes in the brain associated with the disease. The study assessed 4,400 cognitively unimpaired adults aged 65 to 85 and discovered that individuals with a family history of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) from their mother’s side or from both parents showed higher levels of amyloid in their brains.
The findings were published in JAMA Neurology . “Our study found if participants had a family history on their mother’s side, a higher amyloid level was observed,” said senior corresponding author Hyun-Sik Yang, MD, a neurologist at Mass General Brigham and behavioral neurologist in the Division of Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He is also a physician investigator of Neurology for the Mass General Research Institute.
Yang collaborated with other researchers from Mass General Brigham, as well as investigators from Vanderbilt and Stanford University. He said previous smaller studies have investigated the role family history plays in Alzheimer’s disease. Some of those studies suggested maternal history represented a higher r.