Koncz R, Thalamuthu A, Wen W, et al. - In this study, amyloid deposition (the hallmark early characteristic of Alzheimer’s disease) was revealed to be under moderate genetic influence, indicating a substantial environmental contribution that could be amenable to intervention.

• From the Older Australian Twins Study, a total of 206 participants including 61 monozygotic twin pairs (68 (55.74%) females; mean age (SD): 71.98 (6.43) years), and 42 dizygotic twin pairs (56 (66.67%) females; mean age: 71.14 (5.15) years) were analyzed to assess the proportional genetic contribution to the variability of cerebral β-amyloid load in older adults.

• Moderate heritability of global amyloid burden was evident (0.41 using standardised uptake value ratio; 0.52 using the centiloid scale), with a range of 0.20 to 0.54 across different brain regions.

• No significant genetic or environmental correlations existed between global amyloid burden and markers of small vessel disease.