Glamorgan Blogs

According to a recent report on the BBC website the number of people being offered a breast cancer genetic test on the Welsh NHS could treble within the next few years, a leading expert says. The Welsh government is investing … Continue reading →

According to BBC News, people who like a lie-in may now have an excuse – it is at least partly down to their genes, according to experts. Experts, who studied more than 10,000 people across Europe, found those with the … Continue reading →

A gene responsible for chronic pain has been identified, with scientists saying this could lead to drugs for treating long-lasting back pain. Writing in the journal Science, University of Cambridge researchers removed the HCN2 gene from pain-sensitive nerves in mice.  … Continue reading →

According to BBC News Health Fertility doctors say they have found a non-invasive way to screen IVF embryos for genetic abnormalities. The current method involves taking cells from the embryo itself, which experts fear may be harmful. Now UK researchers … Continue reading →

The BBC health news reports today that a gene linked to premature births has been discovered by scientists in the US and Finland. The researchers hope their study, published in Public Library of Science Genetics, could eventually lead to a … Continue reading →

The BBC website today reports that scientists have identified a genetic defect linked to migraine which could provide a target for new treatments. A flawed gene found in a family of migraine sufferers could help trigger the severe headaches, a study in Nature Medicine suggests. Dr Zameel Cader of the University of Oxford said the discovery was a step forward in understanding why one in five people suffer from migraines.

A migraine is a severe, long-lasting headache usually felt as a throbbing pain at the front or on one side of the head. Some can have a warning visual disturbance, called an aura, before the start of the headache, and many people also have symptoms such as nausea and sensitivity to light during the headache itself. Until now, the genes directly responsible for migraine have been unknown.

In this study, scientists including some from the Medical Research Council’s Functional Genomics Unit at the University of Oxford found a gene known as TRESK was directly attributable as a cause of migraine in some patients. The study found that if the gene does not work properly, environmental factors can more easily trigger pain centres in the brain and cause a severe headache. The international team used DNA samples from families with common migraine to identify the defective gene.

Accoring to Netdoctor news

Scientists have discovered that the way prostate cancer develops in men with a faulty ‘breast cancer gene’ is the same by which breast cancer develops in women with the same gene fault.

Cancer Research UK-funded scientists at the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) identified early genetic changes that accumulate over time and lead to cancer in mice lacking the BRCA2 gene in their prostate gland.

The finding that both diseases develop the same way in men and women with a faulty BRCA2 gene suggests that breast cancer drugs may be effective against hereditary prostate cancer.

Lead author Dr Amanda Swain, from the Section of Gene Function and Regulation at the ICR, said: ‘The discovery that BRCA2 alterations play the same role in the development of hereditary prostate cancer as they do in breast cancer is an important step.

‘This sheds light on the relationship between the two conditions and could help highlight overlapping areas where similar treatments could be used to treat both.’

Dr Lesley Walker, director of cancer information at Cancer Research UK, said the findings in the journal PLoS Genetics suggest that breast cancer drugs called PARP inhibitors may also be effective against prostate cancer.

‘While we’ll need to see the results from more patients before we know if this drug could be used in men with this type of prostate cancer, this discovery shows that it’s an exciting possibility,’ he added.

Almost 45,700 women are diagnosed with breast cancer in the UK each year, while prostate cancer accounts for about 36,000 cancer diagnoses each year.

BBC News

A new genetic fault which may account for some cases of inherited deafness has been revealed by Dutch researchers.

It means that parents with the hereditary condition may be able to predict more accurately the chances of passing it on to their children. The new find, documented in the American Journal of Human Genetics, could even one day contribute to treatments, say the scientists.

One child in 750 is born with severe hearing loss or profound deafness. The gene in question, labelled PTPRQ, appears to play a role in the development of the inner ear “hair cell” before the birth of the child. A genetic fault here means that these cells will not form properly or in sufficient numbers, leading to profound deafness or extremely poor hearing. This can lead to problems throughout childhood, including behavioural and developmental difficulties, and low academic achievement.

Inheritance The latest gene was tracked down by scientists at Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre who looked closely at the DNA of families prone to the condition, looking for shared genetic traits. There are now more than 60 known locations in our DNA which can contain faulty genes contributing to this form of deafness, although only half the genes in these locations which actually cause the problem are yet to be identified.

Dr Hannie Kremer, who led the research, said: “Our approach is identifying more genes for congenital deafness.

“This knowledge will help improve treatments for patients, genetic counselling, molecular diagnosis and the development of advanced therapeutic strategies.”

Dr Sohaila Rastan, chief scientific officer for the deaf and hard of hearing charity RNID, said: “Knowledge of genes causing deafness tells us more about how our hearing works.

“This research will help develop medicines that are desperately needed to prevent deafness and restore hearing.” There are hopes that gene therapy will one day be able to correct genetic defects linked to this type of deafness.

UK scientists have identified genetic ‘hotspots’ that could help doctors to tailor bowel cancer treatment to suit individual patients.

A team at the University of Dundee calculated that one in three people with the disease have gene faults that mean common drugs will not work for them.

The researchers analysed samples from 106 bowel cancer patients to see how often known faults in the K-Ras gene occurred.

The gene encodes a protein that is required to switch cell growth on and off, and is known to be faulty in some bowel cancers, causing the switch to be permanently ‘on’ and allowing uncontrolled cell growth.

Writing in the British Journal of Cancer, the study authors revealed that faults in this gene are even more common than previously thought, meaning that around 12,375 out of the 37,500 people diagnosed with bowel cancer each year in the UK probably have a K-Ras fault.

Professor Roland Wolf, who co-authored the study, explained: ‘These findings may in the future be relevant for selected patients with advanced bowel cancer as doctors will be able to more precisely target these treatments to the patients who will benefit and avoid treating those who won’t.’

Bowel cancer is the third most common cancer in the UK, with the majority of cases diagnosed in people over the age of 60.

Posted on behalf of Prof Maggie Kirk

BBC News today says that after all the concern over possible damage to health from using mobile phones, scientists have found a potential benefit from radiation.

Their work has been carried out on mice, but it suggests mobiles might protect against Alzheimer’s. Florida scientists found that phone radiation actually protected the memories of mice programmed to get Alzheimer’s disease. They are now testing more frequencies to see if they can get better results.

The study by the Florida Alzheimer’s Disease Research Centre is published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease.

The full story can be found here.