These results are compatible with an association between genetic stabilization of transthyretin and decreased risk of cerebrovascular disease, and with increased life expectancy in the general population.
To examine the possibility that TTR SNPs affect specific components of the AD process, we tested association of these SNPs with four measures of neurodegeneration and cerebrovascular disease defined by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in a subset of 48 African American and 265 Caucasian sibships.