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Sickness or health? Father or mother ...
Source: Agencies |
December 18, 2009, Friday
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WILL a gene bring healthful blessings or the curse of disease? It may depend on whether it is inherited from mom or dad, researchers reported yesterday.
A team at Iceland's Decode Genetics Inc found mutations in five disease-related genes that only take effect if inherited from a certain parent.
One, a new gene associated with diabetes, protects from the disease if inherited from the mother but raises the risk if inherited from the father. Three other diabetes genes also varied in their effects, but less so, depending on which parent it came from, the researchers reported in the journal Nature.
"We could make this discovery because we are in the unique position of being able to distinguish what is inherited from the mother from what is inherited from the father," Kari Stefansson, chief executive officer of Decode, said.
Dangerous
They found a gene that slightly raised the risk of breast cancer when inherited from the father but had no effect, or was slightly protective, inherited from the mother. A gene associated with a slow-growing form of skin cancer called basal-cell carcinoma was far more dangerous when inherited from the father.
The researchers were struck most by a type-2 diabetes gene, the so-called single nucleotide polymorphism or SNP.
"The impact of the type-2 diabetes variant is not only large, but unusual: If an individual inherits it from their father, the variant increases risk of diabetes by more than 30 percent compared to those who inherit the non diabetes-linked version," the researchers wrote.
"If inherited maternally, the variant lowers risk by more than 10 percent.
"Nearly one quarter of those studied have the highest risk combination of the versions of this SNP, putting them at a roughly 50 percent greater lifetime risk of diabetes than the quarter with the protective combination."
The Decode researchers looked at the genes of 38,167 Icelanders, whose unique genetic heritage has changed little since the Vikings arrived more than 1,000 years ago.
The company filed for bankruptcy protection in November after its drug development programs stalled and sales for its DNA tests for diseases failed to bring in much cash. But Stefansson believes the company has a product to sell, based on its unique genetic science.
A team at Iceland's Decode Genetics Inc found mutations in five disease-related genes that only take effect if inherited from a certain parent.
One, a new gene associated with diabetes, protects from the disease if inherited from the mother but raises the risk if inherited from the father. Three other diabetes genes also varied in their effects, but less so, depending on which parent it came from, the researchers reported in the journal Nature.
"We could make this discovery because we are in the unique position of being able to distinguish what is inherited from the mother from what is inherited from the father," Kari Stefansson, chief executive officer of Decode, said.
Dangerous
They found a gene that slightly raised the risk of breast cancer when inherited from the father but had no effect, or was slightly protective, inherited from the mother. A gene associated with a slow-growing form of skin cancer called basal-cell carcinoma was far more dangerous when inherited from the father.
The researchers were struck most by a type-2 diabetes gene, the so-called single nucleotide polymorphism or SNP.
"The impact of the type-2 diabetes variant is not only large, but unusual: If an individual inherits it from their father, the variant increases risk of diabetes by more than 30 percent compared to those who inherit the non diabetes-linked version," the researchers wrote.
"If inherited maternally, the variant lowers risk by more than 10 percent.
"Nearly one quarter of those studied have the highest risk combination of the versions of this SNP, putting them at a roughly 50 percent greater lifetime risk of diabetes than the quarter with the protective combination."
The Decode researchers looked at the genes of 38,167 Icelanders, whose unique genetic heritage has changed little since the Vikings arrived more than 1,000 years ago.
The company filed for bankruptcy protection in November after its drug development programs stalled and sales for its DNA tests for diseases failed to bring in much cash. But Stefansson believes the company has a product to sell, based on its unique genetic science.
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