Research team identifies human ‘memory gene'

Kibra plays an important role in memory performance

Phoenix, AZ, October 19, 2006 – Research colleagues Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen), University of Zurich in Switzerland, Banner Alzheimer’s Institute (BAI) and Mayo Clinic Scottsdale, announced discovery of a gene that plays a significant role in memory performance in humans. The findings appear in the Oct. 20 issue of Science. The study details how researchers associated memory performance with a gene called Kibra in more than 1,000 individuals – both young and old – from Switzerland and Arizona. This study is the first to describe scanning the human genetic blueprint at over 500,000 positions to identify cognitive differences between humans.

“Using the latest whole-genome association technologies, we have shed light on the fundamental biological process of human memory performance,” said Dr. Dietrich Stephan, director of TGen’s Neurogenomics Division, BAI director of Genetic Programs and a senior author of the paper. “The capacity to remember is a defining feature of humans and we can now use this new understanding to develop drugs that will improve memory function.”

The collaborating researchers collected DNA samples from cognitively healthy people and measured memory performance. TGen researchers screened the collected DNA samples using the whole-genome microarray technology. Researchers then combined the scan data with the memory performance test results and found a connection between Kibra and memory.

"The link between Kibra and memory could lead to new treatments for memory loss and possibly help improve memory in patients with memory disorders such as Alzheimer's disease," said the study's lead author, Dr. Andreas Papassotiropoulos, professor at the University of Zurich,

Not only did the research team identify that the Kibra gene was associated with memory performance, but they also showed that the gene is turned on in the hippocampus, a brain region known to be critical to memory function.

"Using sophisticated functional brain imaging techniques, we showed that individuals who had a version of the gene that is related to poorer memory potential had to tax their brains harder to remember the same amount of information," said Dr. Dominique de Quervain, professor at the University of Zurich.

"Researchers now have enough of the 'letters' to read the 'genetic book of life' with unprecedented power," said Dr. Eric Reiman, executive director of the Banner Alzheimer's Institute and one of the study investigators. "We're excited about the chance to identify a gene that accounts for some of variation in normal human memory and to use this information in the discovery of promising new memory-enhancing treatments."

The impact of the study is that it gives the research community a new and important handhold into truly understanding the process of memory. The ramifications of this report are ultimately developing new and effective medicines that can combat memory loss, and that might also help improve memory in people with memory disorders like Alzheimer's disease.

The team has already begun working on new drugs to restore memory function in age-related memory loss and diseases that have a memory loss component.