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.

Healthy adults with shorter telomere length more likely to develop upper respiratory infection

Among healthy adults who were administered a cold virus, those with shorter telomere length (a structure at the end of a chromosome) in certain cells were more likely to develop experimentally-induced upper respiratory infection than participants with longer telomeres, according to results of preliminary research published in the February 20 issue of JAMA.

20 Feb 2013

Article details mechanism by which long non-coding RNA-activators promote gene expression

Long segments of RNA- encoded in our DNA but not translated into protein-are key to physically manipulating DNA in order to activate certain genes, say researchers at The Wistar Institute. These non-coding RNA-activators (ncRNA-a) have a crucial role in turning genes on and off during early embryonic development, researchers say, and have also been connected with diseases, including some cancers, in adults.

18 Feb 2013

Scientists discover new subgroups of GC patients with different disease's characteristics

A collaboration between Portuguese and Italian scientists has discovered new subgroups of stomach cancer patients with different disease's characteristics, an information that is hoped will help improving the clinical management of a disease that still kills a dismaying 3 out of 4 patients.

18 Feb 2013

Study identifies regions of genes linked to Beh-et's disease

Researchers don't know the exact cause of Beh-et's disease, a chronic condition that leads to oral and genital sores and serious complications such as blindness, but new research brings better understanding to what makes some people more susceptible to being affected.

16 Feb 2013

University of Utah geneticists engineer mice that develop clear cell sarcoma

Geneticists led by University of Utah Nobel Prize Laureate Mario R. Capecchi, Ph.D., have engineered mice that develop clear cell sarcoma (CCS), a significant step in better understanding how this rare and deadly soft tissue cancer arises. The mouse model also can potentially speed the development of drugs to target genes that must be activated for the cancer to form.

13 Feb 2013

Key details of how TRF2 protein performs crucial chromosome-protecting function

We take it for granted that our chromosomes won't stick together, yet this kind of cellular disaster would happen constantly were it not for a protein called TRF2. Now, scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have discovered key details of how TRF2 performs this crucial chromosome-protecting function.

7 Feb 2013

Migraine, epilepsy and genetics: an interview with Dr. Melodie Winawer

This work is the product of an extraordinary consortium called the Epilepsy Phenome/Genome project (EPGP). It is a consortium of 27 centres in the U.S. and internationally with several hundred physicians and staff who have worked together to enrol more than 4000 patients with epilepsy and their family members.

7 Feb 2013

Researchers identify mechanism by which vancomycin resistance spreads between bacteria

Worldwide, many strains of the bacterium Staphyloccocus aureus, commonly known as staph infections, are already resistant to all antibiotics except vancomycin. But as bacteria are becoming resistant to this once powerful antidote, S. aureus has moved one step closer to becoming an unstoppable killer.

31 Jan 2013

Bipolar pedigree endophenotypes found

Researchers have found cognitive endophenotypes in a single extended family showing linkage of bipolar disorder to a risk locus on chromosome 4.

30 Jan 2013

Novartis receives FDA approval for Ph+ acute lymphoblastic leukemia

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved a new use of Gleevec (imatinib) to treat children newly diagnosed with Philadelphia chromosome positive (Ph+) acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).

27 Jan 2013

Genome sequencing data gives important clues on cancer

Genome sequencing data once regarded as junk is now being used to gain important clues to help understand disease.

25 Jan 2013

Mice with reduced caloric intake accumulate longer telomeres

One of the indicators of a cell's health is the state of its DNA and containers-the chromosomes-so when these fuse together or suffer anomalies, they can become the source of illnesses like cancer and/or ageing processes.

23 Jan 2013

Brown biology professor named Pew's Scholar of the Month

Biologist Erica Larschan, Ph.D., was named by The Pew Charitable Trusts as the "Scholar of the Month," for her innovative findings on chromosomal activity in fruit flies.

22 Jan 2013

BRCA1-deficient cancer cells take advantage of DNA repair mechanism

Cancer cells are resourceful survivors with plenty of tricks for staying alive. Researchers have uncovered one of these stratagems, showing how cells lacking the tumor suppressor BRCA1 can resume one form of DNA repair, sparing themselves from stagnation or death. The study appears in the January 21st issue of The Journal of Cell Biology.

22 Jan 2013

New details about molecular surveillance system that helps detect and correct errors in cell division

Studies led by cell biologist Thomas Maresca at the University of Massachusetts Amherst are revealing new details about a molecular surveillance system that helps detect and correct errors in cell division that can lead to cell death or human diseases. Findings are reported in the current issue of the Journal of Cell Biology.

21 Jan 2013

Scientists identify a possible lead in treatment of two childhood leukemia subtypes

Research led by St. Jude Children's Research Hospital scientists has identified a possible lead in treatment of two childhood leukemia subtypes known for their dramatic loss of chromosomes and poor treatment outcomes.

21 Jan 2013

EMA adopts positive opinion for Pfizer’s bosutinib conditional approval in the EU

Pfizer Inc. announced today that the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use of the European Medicines Agency has adopted a positive opinion regarding the conditional marketing authorization of bosutinib in the European Union for the treatment of adult patients with chronic phase (CP), accelerated phase (AP), and blast phase (BP) Philadelphia chromosome positive chronic myelogenous leukemia previously treated with one or more tyrosine kinase inhibitor(s) (TKIs) and for whom imatinib, nilotinib and dasatinib are not considered appropriate treatment options.

19 Jan 2013

Stem cell transplantation prevents decrease in heart function associated with DMD

Researchers have shown that transplanting stem cells derived from normal mouse blood vessels into the hearts of mice that model the pathology associated with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) prevents the decrease in heart function associated with DMD.

16 Jan 2013

Researchers uncover genetic causes of von Willebrand disease

In 2006, the lab of Dr. David Ginsburg at the Life Sciences Institute put a call out for siblings attending the University of Michigan to donate blood for a study of blood-clotting disorders.

10 Jan 2013

Susceptibility genes for bovine digital dermatitis found

Researchers have identified genetic variants that influence susceptibility to bovine digital dermatitis, an infectious condition that causes lameness of the hindfoot.

9 Jan 2013