A Seoul National University medical team say it has discovered another cause of dementia.

Led by professor Suh Yoo-hun, the team said Friday that when a certain enzyme gene is activated, the death of nerve cells result and cause dementia.

Studying the brain tissue of patients who died of dementia, the team said the carboxy-terminal amino acid fragment of the amyloid precursor protein enters the nucleus to activate a certain enzyme gene, thus raising the number of dead nerve cells and eventually causing dementia.

A researcher said dementia can be prevented or eased by developing a material suppressing that particular enzyme gene.

The results of the study is on the online edition of Cell Death and Depreciation published by the journal Nature.