by Jackson Laboratory Biological domain demographics. (A) Number of GO terms employed to define each biological domain, shown as an interaction plot, with total number of terms per domain along diagonal and number of terms shared between domains arranged in external rows and columns. (B) Number of genes in each biological domain, organized as in (A), with total genes within each domain along diagonal and pairwise genes shared between domains heat mapped within rows and columns. (C) The top histogram shows the frequency of a gene annotation across the 19 biological domains for genes annotated to at least one biological domain. The histogram shows a decline in the number of genes annotated to multiple biological domains, with genes mapping to a single biological domain being the most numerous (4,258). The lower plot shows the positive correlation between gene annotation in multiple biological domains and its target risk score, with higher scoring genes participating in multiple biological domains. Credit: Alzheimer’s & Dementia: Translational Research & Clinical Interventions (2024). DOI: 10.1002/trc2.12461 From studying the human genome to analyzing the way proteins are encoded, or monitoring RNA expression, researchers are rapidly gaining a far richer understanding of the complex genetic and cellular mechanisms that underpin dementia. But there’s a catch: While new technologies are revealing myriad avenues for Alzheimer’s research, it’s impossible to know in advance which research pathways will lead to effective treatments.

"We have countless potential targets, but we don’t know which ones to aim at," said Greg Carter, the Bernard and Lusia Milch Endowed Chair at the Jackson Laboratory (JAX), who led the study. "Drug development is slow and costly, so to make use of these new insights, we need a way to prioritize them effectively."

Now, Carter and his colleagues at JAX—in collaboration with partners from Stanford University School of Medicine, Emory University, and Sage Bionetworks—are doing just that, offering the first comprehensive ranking of the relative role and significance of every gene and protein in the disease’s development.

The research is reported in Alzheimer’s & Dementia , in advance of the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference on July 28, where the […]

New analysis offers most comprehensive roadmap to date for more targeted Alzheimer’s research, drug discovery