The announcement of each new presymptomatic genetic test has prompted both considerable publicity in the popular media and excitement among those who perceive themselves to be at risk. This latest identification of a new susceptibility locus (D10S1423) for late-onset Alzheimers disease (AD) promises to produce the same result, especially for first-degree relatives of persons with AD. As another step in the unraveling of the possible etiology of the illness, such research can only be applauded, and we should pursue any therapeutic implications with all diligence.
The immediate practical benefit of the findings is hard to identify, however, and the way in which the research is likely to be portrayed in the media and interpreted by many people may well lead to some negative outcomes. Susceptibility means just that, not certainty, even if the person carries both the APOE E4 and D10S1423 alleles. A test based on this research can at best suggest a heightened risk for AD, a risk of uncertain probability at this time.
Furthermore, no meaningful treatment for AD exists, and thusunlike with most cancers, for examplehere early detection offers no discernible therapeutic benefit. Indeed, it may come with certain costs, not least of which is having to worry longer that every lapse of memory is the beginning of the onset of AD, resulting in an unnecessary or at least premature diminution in quality of life.
Expecting to develop AD may cause a person to rush to try any purported cure, not all of which may be good for ones health. And as for knowing ones fate so that the person can put his/her affairs in order, even if the test is predictive in a given case, in most cases the progression of AD is slow enough after symptoms appear to allow this to be done.
Our society is not kind to the elderl
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Contact: Brent Waters
srns@science-spirit.org
412-585-0842
Science and Religion Information Service
18-Jun-2001