BERLIN (TNS) — British scientists have made a potentially important discovery related to dementia and Alzheimer’s disease that could pave the way for the development of drugs to treat the conditions.

In a paper published by npj dementia, a Nature journal, University College London researchers point to a gene called APOE as “probably” linked to half of all dementia cases and “potentially” 90% of those of Alzheimer’s.

According to the university, the findings suggest that the gene and a related protein could be an “under-recognized target for drug development, which could have the scope to prevent or treat a large proportion of all dementia.”

While APOE has long been linked to the diseases, according to the UCL team, their findings suggest that the connection has been “underestimated.”

The key to preventing dementia onset, according to UCL’s Dylan Williams, could be to figure out a way to stop the gene’s effects in their tracks and in turn to figure out how the gene interacts with other potential contributors to onset, such as isolation or even cholesterol levels.

“We may be able to prevent most disease from occurring,” Williams says, following the team’s research into data sets covering more than 450,000 people.

““Nonetheless, we should not overlook the fact that without the contributions of APOE, most Alzheimer’s disease cases would not occur, irrespective of what other factors are inherited or experienced by carriers of these variants throughout life,” Williams adds.

Published Jan. 9, the UCL findings came shortly after a University of Exeter and Banner Health team said they had found that Alzheimer’s indications can be picked up in a routine finger-prick blood sample.

In early January, the University of Rochester announced findings shedding more light on why women appear more vulnerable to dementia onset than men, with brain immune cells fingered as the likely cause.