Found by scientists to Silence Chromosome Responsible For Down Syndrome

     The findings are detailed in the article published in the journal Nature. However the University of Massachusetts School Of Medicine researchers were only in a position to show this in the lab dish (in vitro) plus they noted that much more scientific studies are needed, the trainer told us it's an essential step toward identifying potential targets for therapies to the condition.

Found by scientists to Silence Chromosome Responsible For Down Syndrome

"This will accelerate our idea of cellular defects in Down's syndrome and when they can be helped by certain drugs," study researcher Jeanne Lawrence, with the University of Massachusetts, told The Guardian. "The long-range possibility -- and it's an uncertain possibility -- is often a chromosome therapy for Down's syndrome. That's 10 years or more away. I don't need to get people's hopes up."

People without Down syndrome have 46 chromosomes in each cell (23 pairs of chromosomes), but people who have Down syndrome offer an extra copy of chromosome 21. As well as affecting cognitive ability, this extra chromosome is linked with Alzheimer's, heart defects and dysfunctional immune and endocrine systems.

Researchers found it's easy to silence the various genes with this extra chromosome upon an RNA gene called XIST, which generally silences one of two X chromosomes in female cells. They did this by making use of stem cells obtained from fibroblast cells which were donated by someone with Down syndrome.

Researchers inserted this XIST gene into a precise location for the chromosome doing so silenced the genes with this chromosome. Plus, researchers discovered that compared with Down syndrome cells that had not had the XIST gene inserted into them, those that did get the XIST gene didn't have cell proliferation defects which can be sign of Down syndrome cells.