- Jan 7, 2002
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Dwarfism gene linked to protection from cancer and diabetes
http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-02-dwarfism-gene-linked-cancer-diabetes.html
February 16, 2011 A 22-year study of abnormally short individuals suggests that growth-stunting mutations also may stunt two of humanity's worst diseases.
Published in Science Translational Medicine, part of the Science family of journals, the study raises the prospect of achieving similar protection in full-grown adults by other means, such as pharmaceuticals or controlled diets.
The international study team, led by cell biologist Valter Longo of the University of Southern California and Ecuadorian endocrinologist Jaime Guevara-Aguirre, followed a remote community on the slopes of the Andes mountains.
The community includes many members with Laron syndrome, a deficiency in a gene that prevents the body from using growth hormone. The study team followed about 100 such individuals and 1,600 relatives of normal stature.
Over 22 years, the team documented no cases of diabetes and one non-lethal case of cancer in Laron's subjects.
Among relatives living in the same towns during the same time period, 5 percent were diagnosed with diabetes and 17 percent with cancer.
Because other environmental and genetic risk factors are assumed to be the same for both groups, Longo and his team concluded that -- at least for adults past their growing years -- growth hormone activity has many downsides.
"The growth hormone receptor-deficient people don't get two of the major diseases of aging. They also have a very low incidence of stroke, but the number of deaths from stroke is too small to determine whether it's significant," Longo said.
Overall lifespan for both groups was about the same, with the abnormally short subjects dying more often from substance abuse and accidents. The study did not include psychological assessments that could have helped explain the difference.
http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-02-dwarfism-gene-linked-cancer-diabetes.html
February 16, 2011 A 22-year study of abnormally short individuals suggests that growth-stunting mutations also may stunt two of humanity's worst diseases.
Published in Science Translational Medicine, part of the Science family of journals, the study raises the prospect of achieving similar protection in full-grown adults by other means, such as pharmaceuticals or controlled diets.
The international study team, led by cell biologist Valter Longo of the University of Southern California and Ecuadorian endocrinologist Jaime Guevara-Aguirre, followed a remote community on the slopes of the Andes mountains.
The community includes many members with Laron syndrome, a deficiency in a gene that prevents the body from using growth hormone. The study team followed about 100 such individuals and 1,600 relatives of normal stature.
Over 22 years, the team documented no cases of diabetes and one non-lethal case of cancer in Laron's subjects.
Among relatives living in the same towns during the same time period, 5 percent were diagnosed with diabetes and 17 percent with cancer.
Because other environmental and genetic risk factors are assumed to be the same for both groups, Longo and his team concluded that -- at least for adults past their growing years -- growth hormone activity has many downsides.
"The growth hormone receptor-deficient people don't get two of the major diseases of aging. They also have a very low incidence of stroke, but the number of deaths from stroke is too small to determine whether it's significant," Longo said.
Overall lifespan for both groups was about the same, with the abnormally short subjects dying more often from substance abuse and accidents. The study did not include psychological assessments that could have helped explain the difference.
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