Science Investor, Jeffrey Epstein, Backs Genetic Research Revealing a Vascular Cause for Alzheimer's There is a well known link between Alzheimer's disease and a gene call ApoE4. In fact, people who carry two copies of the gene have approximately 8 to 10 times the risk of getting Alzheimer's than those who do not have the gene. Up to now though, little was known about how ApoE4 contributed to Alzheimer's devastating deterioration of the brain. However, in a ground breaking study published in Nature and financed by the Alzheimer's Association and The Jeffrey Epstein VI Foundation amongst others, scientists from Rochester University and the University of Southern California have shown how ApoE4 can unleash an excess of the protein cyclophilin A into the cardiovascular system, causing inflammation in atherosclerosis and other conditions. Critically, the study also found that ApoE4 makes it more likely for cyclophilin A to accumulate in cells that help maintain the blood-brain barrier, reducing blood to the brain and allowing toxic substances to infiltrate the brain. "We are beginning to understand much more about how ApoE4 may be contributing to Alzheimer's disease," said Dr. Robert Bell, from Rochester University and senior author of the study. "In the presence of ApoE4, increased cyclophilin A causes a breakdown of cells lining the blood vessels in the brain in the same way as found in cardiovascular disease or abdominal aneurysm. This establishes a new vascular target to fight Alzheimer's disease." Specifically, the study found that a group of mice carrying the ApoE4 gene had five times as much cyclophilin A in their pericyte cells, cells that maintain the integrity of the blood-brain barrier. The Cyclophilin A caused an increase in the inflammatory molecule NF Kappa B which in turn increased levels of MMP molecules or matrix metalloproteinases that are known to damage blood vessels and reduce blood flow. The mice's blood vessels died, blood did