Gene Discovery Sheds Light on Causes of Rare Disease, Cancer
<
Link Here ,
here ,
here , and
here >
National Institute on Aging (NIA) researchers have discovered a new gene, FANCM, which sheds light on an important pathway involved in the repair of damaged DNA. Specifically, mutation in this gene is responsible for one of the forms of Fanconi anemia (FA), a rare genetic disorder that primarily affects children.
Like many rare, inherited diseases, understanding this gene’s role in the development of FA provides insights into other medical problems — in this case, age-related conditions including ovarian and pancreatic cancers, as well as leukemia, the researchers said.
Discovery of this gene and its protein provides a potential target for the development of drugs that can prevent or alleviate FA and a variety of cancers.
The finding is scheduled for advanced online publication in Nature Genetics (http://www.nature.com/ng/)
during the week of August 21, 2005.
* AR Meetei et al, "A Human Orthologue of Archaeal DNA Repair Protein Hef is Defective in Fanconi Anemia Complementation Group M," Nature Genet., August 21, 2005, online.
"FA is a disease that appears to be the result of a breakdown in vital DNA repair mechanisms," said Weidong Wang, Ph.D., a senior investigator in the NIA’s Laboratory of Genetics, who led the study.
"Some scientists theorize that DNA damage, which gradually accumulates as we age, leads to malfunctioning genes and deteriorating tissues and organs as well as increased risk of cancer.
We believe that this new gene, FANCM, may be a potent cog in the DNA repair machinery," Wang said. "It is possible that we could learn how to promote the function of DNA repair complexes and thereby prevent the age-related accumulation of DNA damage."
....
...
The Manipuri Scientists who are part of a scientific group focussing on rare genetic disease, Fanconi anemia at Cincinnati Children
Hospital medical centre are
a) Amom Ruhikanta Meetei did his BS and MS from Manipur University and completed his PhD from IISc , Bangalore.
He is an Assistant Professor at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center
View his full bio-data here.
b) Thiyam Ramsing Singh did his BS from DM College, Manipur and MS from Manipur University and completed his PhD from Central Drug Research Intistitue, India,
He is a Post Doctoral fellow at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Cente.
Check the link for the abstract of this paper here.
*Information culled from NIH (National Institutes of Health)
This article was webcasted on 23rd August 2005
|