Chromosome 4 News and Research

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Humans normally have 46 chromosomes in each cell, divided into 23 pairs. Two copies of chromosome 4, one copy inherited from each parent, form one of the pairs. Chromosome 4 spans more than 191 million DNA building blocks (base pairs) and represents more than 6 percent of the total DNA in cells.

Identifying genes on each chromosome is an active area of genetic research. Because researchers use different approaches to predict the number of genes on each chromosome, the estimated number of genes varies. Chromosome 4 likely contains between 1,300 and 1,600 genes.

Genes on chromosome 4 are among the estimated 20,000 to 25,000 total genes in the human genome.

Einstein researchers find possible clue to why older mothers have babies born with Down syndrome

Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have found a possible clue to why older mothers face a higher risk for having babies born with conditions such as Down syndrome that are characterized by abnormal chromosome numbers.

19 Feb 2015

Duke researchers demonstrate genetic therapeutic technique to treat DMD patients

Duke researchers have demonstrated a genetic therapeutic technique that has the potential to treat more than half of the patients suffering from Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD).

19 Feb 2015

Scientists map autism genetic pathway that regulates brain development

Scientists at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have found that mutations that cause autism in children are connected to a pathway that regulates brain development. The research, led by Lilia Iakoucheva, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry, is published in the February 18 issue of Neuron.

19 Feb 2015

New facts provide baseline for future studies of epigenome's role in human development, diseases

While genomics is the study of all of the genes in a cell or organism, epigenomics is the study of all the genomic add-ons and changes that influence gene expression but aren't encoded in the DNA sequence. A variety of new epigenomic information is now available in a collection of studies published Feb. 19 in Nature by the National Institutes of Health Roadmap Epigenomics Program.

19 Feb 2015

UT Southwestern scientists identify new biomarker that could optimize chemotherapy response

UT Southwestern Medical Center scientists have identified a new biomarker that could help identify patients who are more likely to respond to certain chemotherapies.

18 Feb 2015

Findings may help doctors recommend appropriate treatments, improve patient outcomes

Like a car's front and back bumpers, your cell's chromosomes are capped by "telomeres" that protect this genetic material against deterioration. Still, after enough replications, a chromosome's telomeres break down and once they reach a certain point of degradation, the cell dies. This is one reason that cells are mortal: telomeres only last so long. That is, unless the enzyme telomerase builds new material onto the worn telomeres to reinforce these chromosomal "bumpers". Telomere repair can be a good thing, but in some cases it's not: overactive telomerase can lengthen telomeres until a cell becomes immortal…leading to cancer.

18 Feb 2015

Research may lead to future medical treatments for children with neurodevelopmental problems

Children born with a DNA abnormality on chromosome 16 already linked to neurodevelopmental problems show measurable delays in processing sound and language, says a study team of radiologists and psychologists.

18 Feb 2015

TKI introduction improves French CML patient survival

Real-world study findings from France show the significant impact tyrosine kinase inhibitor treatment has had on the survival of patients with Philadelphia chromosome-positive chronic myeloid leukaemia.

17 Feb 2015

Second-line bosutinib well tolerated by Japanese patients

Phase I/II clinical trial data support the use of bosutinib as second- or third-line tyrosine kinase inhibitor therapy in Japanese patients with Philadelphia chromosome-positive chronic myeloid leukaemia.

17 Feb 2015

Tissue and cell diagnostics market reaches $7.7 billion in 2014

With fast and effective testing techniques, the tissue and cell diagnostics market was estimated to have reached $7.7 billion in 2014 for in vitro diagnostic (IVD) and other reagents used by clinical laboratories, according to Kalorama Information.

16 Feb 2015

Discovery offers much needed information about how virulent insect-borne diseases cause infection

For decades, scientists have thought the bacteria that cause the bubonic plague hijack host cells at the site of a fleabite and are then taken to the lymph nodes, where the bacteria multiply and trigger severe disease. But UNC School of Medicine researchers discovered that this accepted theory is off base. The bacteria do not use host cells; they traffic to lymph nodes on their own and not in great numbers.

16 Feb 2015

Scientists find seven new genes that can cause X-linked intellectual disability

X-linked intellectual disability is a disorder that predominantly affects men and can have highly variable clinical manifestations. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics in Berlin have found seven new genes that can cause this genetic disease: Mutations of these genes on the X chromosome lead to various forms of intellectual disability.

15 Feb 2015

Longer donor leukocyte telomere length linked to improved survival following HCT

Among patients with severe aplastic anemia who received stem cell transplant from an unrelated donor, longer leukocyte (white blood cells) telomere length (a structure at the end of a chromosome) was associated with increased overall survival at 5 years, according to a study in the February 10 issue of JAMA.

12 Feb 2015

UNC researchers create new research tool to help crack the histone code

University of North Carolina scientists have created a new research tool, based on the fruit fly, to help crack the histone code. This research tool can be used to better understand the function of histone proteins, which play critical roles in the regulation of gene expression in animals and plants.

11 Feb 2015

Duke University researchers devise new method to activate genes with light

Duke University researchers have devised a method to activate genes in any specific location or pattern in a lab dish with the flip of a light switch by crossing a bacterium's viral defense system with a flower's response to sunlight.

9 Feb 2015

Researchers develop quality assurance tool for genome editing

A research team at Boston Children's Hospital's Program in Cellular and Molecular Medicine has developed a quality assurance tool for scientists using genome-editing technologies like the increasingly popular CRISPR. The assay, called high throughput genome translocation sequencing (HTGTS), rapidly gauges—for any given gene—these technologies' accuracy and their risk for causing potentially dangerous genomic collateral damage.

9 Feb 2015

Vanderbilt researchers find link between the biological clock and Angelman syndrome

Monitoring participants' biological clocks may be the quickest way to determine the effectiveness of experimental drugs currently under development to treat Angelman syndrome: a debilitating genetic disorder that occurs in more than one in every 15,000 live births.

6 Feb 2015

Researchers identify genetic variants associated with psoriatic arthritis

PsA is a common form of inflammatory form of arthritis causing pain and stiffness in joints and tendons that can lead to joint damage. Nearly all patients with PsA also have skin psoriasis and, in many cases, the skin disease is present before the arthritis develops. However, only one third of patients with psoriasis will go on to develop PsA.

5 Feb 2015

Cell free DNA analysis less effective than sequential screening in finding fetal chromosomal abnormalities

In a study to be presented on Feb. 5 in an oral plenary session at 8 a.m. PST, at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine's annual meeting, The Pregnancy Meeting, in San Diego, researchers will report that cell free DNA analysis is less effective than sequential screening as primary testing for fetal chromosomal abnormalities.

5 Feb 2015

Alzheimer's brains commonly have many neurons with more DNA and genomic copies of APP gene

Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have found diverse genomic changes in single neurons from the brains of Alzheimer's patients, pointing to an unexpected factor that may underpin the most common form of the disease.

5 Feb 2015

Chromosome 4 News and Research

Further Reading

Einstein researchers find possible clue to why older mothers have babies born with Down syndrome

Duke researchers demonstrate genetic therapeutic technique to treat DMD patients

Scientists map autism genetic pathway that regulates brain development

New facts provide baseline for future studies of epigenome's role in human development, diseases

UT Southwestern scientists identify new biomarker that could optimize chemotherapy response

Findings may help doctors recommend appropriate treatments, improve patient outcomes

Research may lead to future medical treatments for children with neurodevelopmental problems

TKI introduction improves French CML patient survival

Second-line bosutinib well tolerated by Japanese patients

Tissue and cell diagnostics market reaches $7.7 billion in 2014

Discovery offers much needed information about how virulent insect-borne diseases cause infection

Scientists find seven new genes that can cause X-linked intellectual disability

Longer donor leukocyte telomere length linked to improved survival following HCT

UNC researchers create new research tool to help crack the histone code

Duke University researchers devise new method to activate genes with light

Researchers develop quality assurance tool for genome editing

Vanderbilt researchers find link between the biological clock and Angelman syndrome

Researchers identify genetic variants associated with psoriatic arthritis

Cell free DNA analysis less effective than sequential screening in finding fetal chromosomal abnormalities

Alzheimer's brains commonly have many neurons with more DNA and genomic copies of APP gene

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