ScienceDaily (Apr. 10, 2009) — A recent study by Mount Sinai faculty suggests that a gene associated with onset of type-2 diabetes also decreases in Alzheimer's disease dementia cases. The research, led by Dr. Giulio Maria Pasinetti, MD, Ph.D., The Aidekman Family Professor in Neurology, and Professor of Psychiatry and Geriatrics and Adult Development at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, was published the week of April 6 in the scientific journal, Archives of Neurology.

... Dr. Pasinetti and colleagues found that a gene known as proliferator-activated receptor coactivator 1 - (PGC-1 ), a key regulator of glucose content currently investigated as a potential therapeutic target for type-2 diabetes, is also decreased in Alzheimer' disease dementia cases. Most importantly, Dr. Pasinetti reports that PGC-1 decreased in Alzheimer' disease dementia cases with progression of the clinical disease and positively correlates with brain accumulation of β-amyloid, an abnormal protein highly linked to Alzheimer' disease dementia and brain degeneration. This evidence is of high interest to the field and suggests, for the first time, a strong relationship between decreased content of a gene responsible for type-2 diabetes in Alzheimer's disease dementia cases, says Dr. Pasinetti

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