OXFORD scientists have discovered differences in the brains of people as young as 20 that could help develop an early warning system for Alzheimer’s disease.

Their research could help identify people at risk of developing the disease, letting them change their lifestyle before it is too late.

The researchers, based at Oxford University’s Department of Psychiatry, have discovered a gene linked to Alzheimer’s already affects young people’s brains decades before any symptoms appear.

People who carry the APOE4 gene are more likely to develop Alzheimer’s, but scientists do not yet know how or why.

And not everybody who carries APOE4 will develop the disease, and not all dementia sufferers are carriers, they said.

Researcher Verena Heise said: “We already knew this gene was a risk factor in Alzheimer’s.

“We now know it has an effect on younger people too, even though we normally associate Alzheimer’s with aging.”

She added: “The differences already in young peoples’ brains may make them more susceptible to Alzheimer’s, without it necessarily developing. Whether it does may have to do with lifestyle experiences.

“That is the basic aim of the research – finding something that means we can tell them to change their lifestyle, or take more vitamins, or whatever, because we know they may be at risk.”

Now Miss Heise, 25, from Germany, has been given a £91,500 grant from the Alzheimer’s Research Trust to investigate the brain differences.

She will be using facilities at Oxford’s John Radcliffe Hospital and Warneford Hospital’s Oxford Centre for Human Brain Activity in her research.

She said: “After more than a century of research, the cause for the disease remains largely unknown, and there are still no drugs available to cure Alzheimer’s.

“Research is the only way we will be able to find the solution.”

Alzheimer’s Research Trust head of research Dr Simon Ridley said: “More research like this is desperately needed if we are to find a cure or preventative treatment.

“We hope this could give us some important clues.”

  • Alzheimer's disease is the most common cause of dementia, affecting 465,000 people in the UK and 6,000 in Oxfordshire alone.

First described by German neurologist Alois Alzheimer in 1906, it causes brain cells to die.

Sufferers experience memory loss and, as it progresses, they become confused and withdrawn and experience mood swings.

No one single factor has been identified as a cause. Scientists believe a combination of factors, including age, genetic make-up and diet contribute.