Alzheimer disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by subtle onset of memory loss followed by a slowly progressive dementia. The great majority of AD cases are of late onset (LOAD) after age 65 years. LOAD shows complex, nonmendelian patterns of inheritance, and most likely results from the combined effects of variation in a number of genes as well as from environmental factors (summary by Grupe et al., 2006).
The Alzheimer disease-6 (AD6) designation refers to a susceptibility locus on chromosome 10q. Although significant associations with several candidate genes on chromosome 10 have been reported, these findings have not been consistently replicated, and they remain controversial (Grupe et al., 2006).
For a discussion of genetic heterogeneity of Alzheimer disease, see 104300. [from
OMIM]