All subjects took the Auditory-Verbal Learning Test, which involves five trials of learning two 15-word sets. While the mean scores for both subject groups were within the normal range, the mean was significantly lower in the group with longer forms of TOMM40.
“We found significant changes in verbal learning and memory–changes that are traditionally the first cognitive changes seen in Alzheimer's,” Dr. Sager said. “Even after adjustment for age, gender, and education, people with the long form of TOMM40 were performing lower than those without it.”
He stressed that none of the subjects in either the brain volume study or the memory study had any observable memory difficulties in their everyday life. “But these findings of gray matter loss and cognitive changes in these relatively young people are very important”and suggest that “we may have the ability to find people at risk of Alzheimer's very early on in the disease process, far in advance of any significant cognitive problems.”
Patients with short TOMM40 had greater gray matter volume than did those patients with two very long versions.
Source Courtesy Sterling Johnson, Ph.D.