African Americans develop Alzheimer’s disease at roughly twice the rate of White Americans, a disparity rooted in unequal healthcare access, educational inequities, and biases in cognitive testing. Higher rates of cardiovascular disease and diabetes in African American communities further compound this risk.
Until now, most Alzheimer’s brain tissue research has focused predominantly on European-ancestry populations, leaving critical gaps in understanding how the disease manifests genetically in African Americans. Scientists at Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine conducted the largest Alzheimer’s study to date using African American brain tissue, analyzing samples from 207 donors across 14 NIH-funded research centers.
The research team discovered numerous genes that behaved differently in those with Alzheimer’s compared to healthy controls, many never before linked to the disease. The gene ADAMTS2 showed the most dramatic change, with activity levels 1.5 times higher in brain tissue from individuals with autopsy-confirmed Alzheimer’s.
Remarkably, ADAMTS2 also ranked first in a separate European American study by the same researchers. Lead author Lindsay A. Farrer emphasized the significance: “Our findings are significant as they represent the first instance in similarly designed studies of Alzheimer’s genetics where the same gene emerged as the most significant in both African American and White populations.”
This overlap suggests a shared biological pathway that could become a therapeutic target, though most Alzheimer’s risk variants remain population-specific with different frequencies and impacts across racial groups.
See: “New Alzheimer’s Study Identifies Key Gene Insights from African American Population” (January 1, 2026)
