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Clinical genetics news

Life-changing drug identified for children with rare epilepsy

A new experimental treatment for children with a hard-to-treat form of epilepsy is safe and can reduce seizures dramatically, helping them lead much healthier and happier lives, according to the findings of a UCL (University ...

A promising potential therapeutic strategy for Rett syndrome

A team of researchers at Baylor College of Medicine and the Duncan Neurological Research Institute (Duncan NRI) at Texas Children's Hospital reports in Science Translational Medicine a potential new approach to treat Rett ...

Tracking mysteries of loss of Y chromosome, cancer

The Y chromosome is among the smallest in the human body and carries the fewest genes. Researchers are paying renewed attention to its role in cancer—specifically, what happens when it vanishes.

What is a 'cancer gene'? How genetic mutations lead to cancer

An estimated 170,000 Australians were diagnosed with cancer in 2025. Many people know the causes of cancer are partly genetic. But how do your genes, which contribute so much of what makes you you, change what they do and ...

Vitamin B3 therapy offers hope for fatal childhood disease

Scientists at Gladstone Institutes have flipped the traditional approach to finding potential treatments for deadly diseases. Instead of starting with a disease and hunting for a cure, they began with vitamins and systematically ...

Engineers sharpen gene-editing tools to target cystic fibrosis

Engineers at the University of Pennsylvania and Rice University have refined a technology for editing individual genetic "base pairs" to a new level of precision, opening the door to safer, more reliable therapies for a wide ...

Gene variants help explain why food allergies run in families

People often remark that allergies run in their family, but the genetic causes have remained unclear. Previous food allergy genetic research has relied upon broad but surface-level methods called genome-wide association studies.

How age, sex and genetics shape our antibodies

Age, biological sex, and human genetic factors influence the production of antibodies during the immune response. A team of scientists from the Institut Pasteur, the CNRS and the Collège de France have shown that these factors ...

KRAS mutation type may guide more effective cancer treatments

KRAS is the most frequently mutated oncogene across all human cancers. Although different KRAS mutations have long been thought to exert the same cancer-driving effects, a new study led by UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers ...

Studies show 11 genetic variants affect gut microbiome

In two new studies on 28,000 individuals, researchers are able to show that genetic variants in 11 regions of the human genome have a clear influence on which bacteria are in the gut and what they do there. Only two genetic ...

Want a tall, smart child? How IVF tests are selling a dream

Prospective parents are being marketed genetic tests that claim to predict which IVF embryo will grow into the tallest, smartest or healthiest child. But these tests cannot deliver what they promise. The benefits are likely ...