Dementia Linked with Spontaneous Mutations During Embryonic Development

Research by scientists in the U.K. suggests that many cases of common neurodegenerative diseases that develop later in life, such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Parkinson’s disease (PD), may be caused by spontaneous gene mutations that occur during embryonic development. Based on research that harnessed a combination of ultra-high deep sequencing and mathematical modeling techniques, a team of scientists in the U.K. reported evidence that somatic (i.e., spontaneous, rather than inhe