Fused gene might increase lupis risk. Or not.

It was a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup moment in genetic evolution: The end of one gene fused to the beginning of another and, voilà, a new, composite gene was born. In most people the two-component gene does not work. But in a small percentage the gene functions and puts its possessors at increased risk for lupus and potentially other autoimmune diseases, in which the immune system attacks the body’s own tissues, says a team of researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

If the Birmingham researchers are right, the gene could be a clue to improving therapy for autoimmune diseases. At least one prominent researcher has roundly criticized the putative lupus link, however.

Read the full, original story: New Genetic Clue to Lupus Is Found

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Are pesticide residues on food something to worry about?

In 1962, Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring drew attention to pesticides and their possible dangers to humans, birds, mammals and the ...
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