The Nation - News from March 10, 1986

Researchers have isolated the genetic blueprint of a brain protein that appears to play a key role in the mental deterioration caused by Alzheimer’s disease, a neurologist said. By learning the exact makeup of the protein, it may be possible to devise a test that would detect a hereditary form of the disease before symptoms develop, Dr. Dennis J. Selkoe of the Center for Neurologic Diseases at Brigham and Women’s Hospital said in a report published in the Boston Globe.