A rare mutation has helped one man stave off Alzheimer’s for decades

It’s the second such case ever to be reported A rare genetic mutation never seen before protected a man with an inherited form of Alzheimer’s from developing the disease for decades. He is the second person found to have such protection, following a report in 2019 of a woman with a different mutation (SN: 1/26/20). Both mutations may have staved off the disease for years by acting in similar ways in the brain, an insight that could lead to new treatments for all forms of Alzheimer’s, scientists report May 15 in Nature Medicine. But some researchers are cautious about concluding too much from just two cases. “The results look very promising, but it would be useful to see replication in more samples,” says neurologist Rudolph Tanzi of Harvard Medical School who was not involved in the new study. Still, the work is important as “it can serve as a useful guide for drug discovery,” he says.