Genomics News

• HSPA1L Variants Linked to Recurrent Preterm Birth Variants in the gene HSPA1L are likely responsible for recurrent spontaneous preterm birth in some families, according to a new study using whole-exome sequencing (WES).
  Reuters Health Information, July 2018
• Gene Variant Flags Risk for Drug-Induced Liver Injury in MS Researchers discovered a genetic difference that could identify people with multiple sclerosis at risk for drug-induced liver injury associated with interferon-beta therapy.
  Medscape Medical News, July 2018
• U.S. Data Shows Ethnic Disparities in Fibroid Treatment, Outcomes African-American, Hispanic-American and Asian-American women are more likely to undergo abdominal myomectomy than white women, according to a new analysis of data from the American College of Surgeons' National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP).
  Reuters Health Information, July 2018
• Platelet Biogenesis Technique Allows Clinical Scale Production: Researchers Turbulent flow activates platelet biogenesis and enables ex vivo production of clinically meaningful volumes of platelets, researchers from Japan report.
  Reuters Health Information, July 2018
• In Vivo Gene Editing Lowers Cholesterol in Animal Model Inactivation of the gene PCSK9 in macaque liver using targeted meganuclease-mediated DNA breaks leads to stable reduction of serum cholesterol levels, researchers report.
  Reuters Health Information, July 2018
• CRISPR Gene Editing Can Cause Risky Collateral DNA Damage - Study Scientists studying the effects of the potentially game-changing gene editing tool CRISPR/Cas9 have found it can cause unexpected genetic damage which could lead to dangerous changes in some cells.
  Reuters Health Information, July 2018
• Glioma Incidence, Survival in US Adults Vary by Ethnicity The incidence and survival rates of glioma in U.S. adults vary greatly by race or ethnicity, new research suggests.
  Reuters Health Information, July 2018
• Rheumatologists Cautioned to Avoid Overtreatment Six common approaches to treating inflammatory rheumatic diseases might lead to overdiagnosis and overtreatment, an expert warns. Another expert says overdiagnosis is less common, however.
  Medscape Medical News, July 2018
• Patients With Renal Cancer Could Benefit From Genetic Testing Germline mutations in cancer-associated genes are prevalent in patients with advanced renal cancer, but many patients would not be referred for informative genetic testing under current criteria.
  Medscape Medical News, July 2018
• New Agents Show Promise for Severe and Fatal Genetic Disease Hereditary transthyretin amyloidosis is caused by mutation in the TTR gene. Two promising new agents may slow the progression and improve the symptoms of this progressive and fatal disease.
  Medscape Medical News, July 2018
• Genetic Variations in Caffeine Metabolism Do Not Affect Mortality Benefits of Coffee Coffee drinking is associated with reduced all-cause mortality, regardless of genetic variations in caffeine metabolism, researchers report.
  Reuters Health Information, July 2018
• Common Solvents Strongly Tied to MS Risk There is a strong association between exposure to organic solvents and multiple sclerosis risk, especially among those who smoke and carry a genetic risk.
  Medscape Medical News, July 2018
• No Link Between Vitamin D and Preeclampsia, Gestational Hypertension A woman's vitamin D status is unlikely to affect her risk for gestational hypertension or preeclampsia, researchers say.
  Reuters Health Information, June 2018
• Genetics and Lifestyle Additive for Cardiovascular Risk While a healthy lifestyle reduces risk across all genetic risk categories, patients at highest genetic risk have the largest absolute risk reduction and so stand to benefit most from lifestyle intervention.
  Medscape Medical News, July 2018
• EHA 2018Mutations in Half of Patients With CLL Who Relapse on Ibrutinib Acquired mutations were present in 50% of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) who relapsed after treatment with ibrutinib (Imbruvica).
  Medscape Medical News, June 2018
• Herpesvirus May Drive Development, Progression of Alzheimer's In potentially game-changing research, a novel study of postmortem brain samples suggests human herpesvirus may be implicated in the neuropathology of Alzheimer's disease.
  Medscape Medical News, June 2018
• Common Psychiatric Disorders Share Genetic Underpinnings A massive new study finds a high degree of genetic overlap between psychiatric disorders that current clinical diagnostic categories do not accurately reflect.
  Medscape Medical News, June 2018
• Roche Pays $2.4 Bln for Rest of Cancer Expert Foundation Medicine Swiss drugmaker Roche is paying $2.4 billion to buy the rest of Foundation Medicine (FMI), raising its bet on the U.S. genomic profiling group's ability to personalize cancer care.
  Reuters Health Information, June 2018
• Sulfonylureas Work Long-Term in Permanent Neonatal Diabetes In contrast to type 2 diabetes, sulfonylureas appear not to lose efficacy over time or cause hypoglycemia in patients with a rare form of diabetes, neonatal arising from KCNJ11 mutations.
  Medscape Medical News, June 2018
• Doctors Have Cost Concerns About Genetic Tests for Disease Risk While many primary care providers believe genetic tests to assess risk for common chronic diseases might prove useful in treating patients, a recent study also suggests they're worried that steep out-of-pocket costs may limit who can be tested.
  Reuters Health Information, June 2018