Cystic fibrosis (CF) is the most common lethal hereditary disease of Caucasians, occurring once for every 2,000 live births. The disease is hereditary and affects the respiratory and digestive tracts most severely. This article reveals that there has mean a remarkable discovery in the field of molecular genetic for the potential cure of this fatal disease. The research conducted shows that the disease is on chromosome 7 and abnormal chloride ion transportation underlies the clinical manifestations. There is a laboratory in particular that has isolated the sequence from chromosome 7 and has also found that a protein called the CF antigen is coded by a gene on chromosome 1. With further research needed it is hoped that the product of the CF gene on chromosome 7 may interact with the product of the gene on chromosome 1, enabling its normal catabolism and function and leading to a possible cure for this disease.
Author: K Kane
Website: http://www.annclinlabsci.org/cgi/content/abstract/18/4/289
by: Ryan Fisher
