SCOTTISH HOSPITAL NEWS
KIDNEY DISEASE RISK FOR SOME PREGNANT WOMEN
RESEARCH FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF ABERDEEN HAS FOUND THAT THAT THERE WAS AN INCREASED RISK OF CHRONIC KIDNEY DISEASE LATER IN LIFE FOR MOTHERS WHO HAD HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE DURING PREGNANCY.
The study followed women up to sixty years after the pregnancy and found that those who experienced hypertensive disorders (high blood pressure, pre-eclampsia or eclampsia) are more likely to suffer from kidney disease at a later date than those who had normal blood pressure.
This, the first study of this magnitude to investigate the long-term effects of hypertension in pregnancy is published in the journal – Pregnancy Hypertension: An International Journal of Women’s Cardiovascular Health
The study used data from the Aberdeen Maternity and Neonatal Databank (AMND), Grampian Renal Biochemistry Dataset (GRBD), Scottish Morbidity Records (SMR) from the Information Services Division (ISD), Scottish Renal Register
(SRR) and the National Records of Scotland (NRS)to compare women’s health post-pregnancy.
‘We found that there are long- term health problems associated with high blood pressure during pregnancy,’ said Dr Dolapo Ayansina. ‘Women who experienced hypertensive disorders during pregnancy were found to be at a greater risk of kidney disease long after the pregnancy.
‘For most women with hypertension, once the pregnancy is over, their blood pressure and symptoms generally return to normal but it hasn’t been known for sure whether there are long-term implications for kidney function. So that’s basically what we are looking at - is there a suggestion of long- term implications for kidney function after the pregnancy and the baby has been delivered?
‘Our recommendations would be that maybe we should keep an eye on the renal function of these women who are at greater risk of kidney disease so that we can
MECHANISM FOR GENETIC RISK
OF MYELOMA DISCOVERED Every year around 5,500 people in the UK are diagnosed with myeloma, a rare and incurable form of cancer affecting the plasma cells in bone marrow, and it’s estimated that around one in 115 men and one in 155 women in the general population will develop myeloma in their life time.
in myeloma.
This is the first time that the biological consequences of a novel genetic risk variant for myeloma have been investigated and deciphered in detail, with the results published recently in the prestigious journal Nature Communications.
Now, researchers have identified a mechanism that may explain how a key genetic variant acts to increase the risk of developing myeloma. It is hoped that research of this type will aid the discovery and development of effective new treatment strategies
The research forms part of the myeloma research programme at The Institute of Cancer Research, London (ICR), and is the largest genetic study of its kind in myeloma that compares the genomes of healthy individuals with those of myeloma patients. To date, it has identified 17 genetic risk variants for myeloma.
In these new findings, scientists at the ICR focused on a risk variant sequence found on chromosome 7
manage this if a problem occurs.’
Mechanism for genetic risk of myeloma discovered
Every year around 5,500 people in the UK are diagnosed with myeloma, a rare and incurable form of cancer affecting the plasma cells in bone marrow, and it’s estimated that around one in 115 men and one in 155 women in the general population will develop myeloma in their life time.
Now, researchers have identified a mechanism that may explain how a key genetic variant acts to increase the risk of developing myeloma. It is hoped that research of this type will aid the discovery and development of effective new treatment strategies in myeloma.
This is the first time that the biological consequences of a novel genetic risk variant for myeloma have been investigated and deciphered in detail, with the results published recently in the prestigious journal Nature Communications.
called rs4487645. The researchers found that myeloma risk is increased with rs4487645 through involvement of a protein called IRF4 which helps to switch on the production of another protein, CDCA7L. One of the downstream consequences of CDCA7L is increased cell growth involving an established ‘culprit’ protein in myeloma called Myc.
‘Our study is an important step forward for research into myeloma, because it has started to untangle the complex biology that underlies the genetics of cancer risk,’ said study leader, Professor Richard Houlston, Professor of Molecular and Population Genetics at The Institute of Cancer Research, London. ‘If we know exactly how a genetic variant operates to increase the risk of myeloma, we can start thinking about how we can exploit that information to improve treatments or to prevent the disease.’
The research forms part of the myeloma research programme at The Institute of Cancer Research, London (ICR), and is the largest genetic study of its kind in myeloma that compares the genomes of healthy individuals with those of myeloma patients. To date, it has identified 17 genetic risk variants for myeloma.
In these new findings, scientists at the ICR focused on a risk variant sequence found on chromosome 7 called rs4487645. The researchers found that myeloma risk is increased with rs4487645 through involvement of a protein called IRF4 which helps to switch on the production of another protein, CDCA7L. One of the downstream consequences of CDCA7L is increased cell growth involving an established ‘culprit’ protein in myeloma called Myc.
‘Our study is an important step forward for research into myeloma, because it has started to untangle the complex biology that underlies the genetics of cancer risk,’ said study leader, Professor Richard Houlston, Professor of Molecular and Population Genetics at The Institute of Cancer Research, London. ‘If we know exactly how a genetic variant operates to increase the risk of myeloma, we can start thinking about how we can exploit that information to improve treatments or to prevent the disease.’
GENE COULD PLAY ROLE IN BODY’S MUSCLE MASS
Scientists from the University of Aberdeen have identified a gene they think could play a role in determining a person’s muscle mass – which is linked to a number of health factors, including how long someone lives. Led by Dr Arimantas Lionikas, scientists have found a gene that appears to affect muscle mass in mice. The same gene has previously been linked with the spread of cancer and drugs have been developed to target it. The team hope to study these drugs further to understand their effects on muscle tissue. If there are different drugs targeting the same gene, the research could uncover which drug has the less negative effect on muscle mass.
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