Latest Nature Genetics Stories
De novo mutations more frequentDe novo mutations "“ genetic errors that are present in patients but not in their parents "“ are more frequent in schizophrenic patients than in normal individuals, according to an international group of scientists led by Dr. Guy A. Rouleau of the University of Montreal and CHU Sainte-Justine Hospital. The discovery, published today in Nature Genetics, may enable researchers to define how the disease results from these mutations and eventually develop new...
A genome-wide study by researchers at the RIKEN Center for Genomic Medicine, Hiroshima University Hospital and Sapporo-Kosei General Hospital has identified a genetic variant associated with the development of liver cancer in chronic hepatitis C virus carriers. The findings are based on a study of 3,312 Japanese individuals and appear in the journal Nature Genetics.Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the most common type of liver cancer, is the third leading cancer-related cause of death and the...
Findings reveal chaos in biochemical alterations of cancer cellsUsing the latest gene sequencing tools to examine so-called epigenetic influences on the DNA makeup of colon cancer, a Johns Hopkins team says its results suggest cancer treatment might eventually be more tolerable and successful if therapies could focus on helping cancer cells get back to normal in addition to strategies for killing them.In a report published June 26 in Nature Genetics, the investigators focused on a particular...
Researchers studying the treatment of AIDS in Africa and other poor regions are finding that the drugs used to combat the disease are causing premature aging and lead to age-related illnesses such as heart disease and dementia, Reuters is reporting.British scientists reported in the journal Nature Genetics that the drugs, known as nucleoside analog reverse-transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs) damage DNA in the patient's mitochondria -- the "batteries" that power cells.The newer cocktails of AIDS...
An international research team, co-led by scientists at Mayo Clinic's campus in Florida, have discovered three potential susceptibility genes for development of progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), a rare neurodegenerative disease that causes symptoms similar to those of Parkinson's disease but is resistant to Parkinson's medications. Their report is being published online June 19 in Nature Genetics.The findings provide a "testable translational hypothesis" as to the development...
A single gene is central in the development of several forms of polycystic kidney and liver disease, Yale School of Medicine researchers report in the June 19 issue of Nature Genetics.The findings suggest manipulating activity of PKD1, the gene causing the most common form of polycystic kidney disease, may prove beneficial in reducing cysts in both liver and kidney."We found that these conditions are not the result of an all or nothing phenomenon," said Stefan Somlo, the C.N.H. Long...
Initial step towards early identification and treatment of progressive supranuclear palsyThere are new genetic clues on risk factors and biological causes of a rare neurodegenerative disease called progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), according to a new study from an international genetics team led by researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. In the largest genetics study of the disease, three new genes associated with risk for PSP were identified...
Some men of African descent may have a higher genetic risk of developing prostate cancer, according to research conducted at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California (USC).The genome-wide association study, published in the journal Nature Genetics on May 22, determined a marker of risk for prostate cancer in men of African descent, who tend to more susceptible to prostate cancer than men of non-African descent. The research team was led by Christopher Haiman, ScD.,...
A gene-sequencing study of children with autism, described in an advance online publication in Nature Genetics on 15 May, offers a sneak peek at a technique which, combined with other approaches, may explain 40 to 50 percent of the genetic causes of the disorder within just a few years, proposes the study's lead investigator. This approach, says Evan Eichler of the University of Washington in Seattle, will potentially allow clinicians to "lift the hood on what has gone wrong in each...
Researchers sequenced the protein-coding sections of the genomes of affected children and their parents to find mutationsScientists at the University of Washington (UW) Department of Genome Sciences have identified several sporadic or "de novo" genetic mutations in children with autism spectrum disorder. The researchers applied leading edge molecular biology techniques and massively parallel sequencing to simultaneously examine all of the protein coding portions of the genome,...
