Scientists discover gene causing cystic fibrosis

Press, 30 August 1989, Page 17

Scientists discover gene causing cystic fibrosis

NZPA-Reuter New York

Scientists have identified the gene for cystic fibrosis, a discovery that may eventually lead to better detection of the life-threatening genetic disease.

A group led by Dr Francis Collins, of the University of Michigan, and Dr Lap-Chee Tsui, at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, made the discovery, sources close to the group have said.

Dr Collins declined to confirm the defective gene had been identified and cloned, saying the work had not yet been accepted for publication in scientific journals. Dr Tsui did not return telephone calls.

“Any announcement about the gene should coincide with the publication of the data in a professional journal, as in any scientific discovery,” Dr Collins said.

Dr Collins said it might be four to six weeks before the work was formally published. He warned against raising false hope for young people suffering from the disease “because it won’t immediately lead to a cure.”

Researchers around the world have been trying for years to isolate the gene for the disease, which afflicts 30,000 young people in the United States and dooms the sufferer to a short life marked by recurrent respiratory infections.

An estimated one in every 20 people in the United States and Canada unknowingly carries a copy of the defective gene. A child inherits cystic fibrosis if he or she receives two copies of the defective gene, one from each parent. However, present screening techniques for prenatal testing are limited only to families who already have a child with the disease. At present, there is no way to detect whether prospective parents carry the defective gene. People born with the disease often died in childhood but in recent years, treatment advances have given children at least a 50-50 chance of reaching the age of 21.