The BRCA1 gene linked to breast and ovarian cancer may also be a factor in Alzheimer's disease, new research shows.

Scientists from the Gladstone Institutes in San Francisco and the University of California-San Francisco (UCSF) have found the gene’s well-known action on DNA in cancer cells may contribute to the brain-wasting disease, Medical News Today reports.

Their findings, published in the journal Nature Communications, could deepen scientists’ understanding of the mechanisms that lead to dementia and may point the way to new ways to diagnose and treat it.

"It's extremely interesting that one molecule can be critically involved in two apparently opposing conditions: cancer, in which too many cells are born and neurodegenerative disease, in which too many brain cells die off," said researcher Lennart Mucke.

Among women who inherit a harmful BRCA1 mutation, 55-65 percent will develop breast cancer and 39 percent will develop ovarian cancer by the age of 70.