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Genetics news

Oncology & Cancer

Hereditary colorectal cancer: Researchers reclassify a large proportion of leading gene variants as benign

The genetic confirmation of a suspected diagnosis of hereditary colorectal cancer is of great importance for the medical care of affected families. However, many of the variants identified in the known genes cannot yet be ...

Genetics

Bioinformatics techniques uncover hidden prevalence of repeat expansion disorders

Research led by scientists at Queen Mary University of London is signaling a new era for genetic sequencing and testing. In the largest study of its kind to date, published today in Nature Medicine, an international group ...

Oncology & Cancer

Categorizing the epigenetic hallmarks that define cancer

Cancer mortality has just surpassed cardiovascular disease for the first time ever and one in two men, and one in three women, will be diagnosed with some form of the disease in the US, according to the NIH.

Genetics

Genetic link between bipolar disorder and epilepsy unveiled

A team of researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences has uncovered compelling evidence of a genetic link between bipolar disorder type I (BD-I) and epilepsy, potentially transforming our understanding of these complex ...

Oncology & Cancer

Prostate cancer: Family history, genetics and your risk

If you've been diagnosed with prostate cancer, exploring what may have contributed to your cancer might not be at the top of your list. However, learning about your family history and the genetic characteristics of your prostate ...

Oncology & Cancer

Genetic mutations in HRAS, KRAS genes linked to childhood cancers

Hereditary changes in genes are often the cause of rare diseases. For example, disease-causing gene variants (PVs) in the HRAS gene cause Costello syndrome and PVs in the KRAS gene cause Noonan syndrome and cardio-facio-cutaneous ...

Genetics

Potential new biomarker for Alzheimer's discovered

Alzheimer's is considered a disease of old age, with most people being diagnosed after 65. But the condition actually begins developing, out of sight, many years before any symptoms emerge. Tiny proteins, known as amyloid-beta ...

Genetics

How cell-free RNA could revolutionize preeclampsia diagnosis

Preeclampsia is a serious pregnancy disorder, marked by high blood pressure and the presence of proteins in urine, affecting between 2% and 4% of pregnant women worldwide, leading to about 46,000 maternal deaths and about ...

Genetics

Gene mutation may explain why some don't get sick from COVID-19

People who contract COVID-19 but never develop symptoms—the so-called super dodgers—may have a genetic ace up their sleeve. They're more than twice as likely as those who become symptomatic to carry a specific gene variation ...

Genetics

New genes implicated in deadly heart defect

By identifying genes in patients and testing their effects in fruit flies, researchers from Sanford Burnham Prebys have found new genes that contribute to hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS), a rare, life-threatening heart ...

Oncology & Cancer

How skin cancer virus outcompetes host cell replication

University of Pittsburgh researchers have shown for the first time how Merkel cell polyomavirus (MCV), which causes an aggressive skin cancer called Merkel cell carcinoma, initiates DNA replication in host cells.