Professor Holtzman said the result implied that apoE and clusterin worked together to suppress plaque formation by clearing amyloid protein from the brain tissue and surrounding fluid.
The surprise at the end of his story is that Jerry Bishop himself was the ordinary 64 year old man who was afraid to open the envelope with the APOE results.
The mice who lacked apoE and clusterin showed signs of higher levels of amyloid protein not only in their brain tissue, also in the fluid surrounding individual brain cells and the fluid surrounding the entire brain.
He says because the companies didn't decide to divide patients into those with and without APOE until after the study finished, there is a meaningful risk that the positive results are due solely to chance.
The researchers, led by Dr George Zubenko, found that a small area of Chromosome 10 of human DNA called D10S1423, when combined with a previously identified gene APOE E4, produced the increased risk of developing the disease.