THD NewsDesk, INDIANA (USA): A team of researchers at Indiana University School of Medicine is dedicatedly working on a study to discover a gene that could reduce the likelihood of developing alcoholic cirrhosis. The primary objective of the study is to locate the link between genes and biological processes and the role of genetic mutation in the body consequently modifying the process.
The findings can now be accessed in a new research paper published in Hepatology.
The assistant research professor of medical and molecular genetics, Dr. Tae-Hwi has confirmed their key finding: a gene called Fas Associated Factor Family Member 2 (FAF2).
“There’s this convergence of findings now that are pointing to the genes involved in lipid droplet organization pathway, and that seems to be one of the biological reasoning of why certain people get the liver disease and why certain people do not.”, Dr. Tae-Hwi elucidated.
Alcoholic liver cirrhosis is the most advanced form of liver disease. Initiating with fatty liver disease, excessive consumption of alcohol could evolve into liver cirrhosis. It has known to cause acute liver damage over a period of time and impairs the organ’s functioning, after years of alcohol intake.
The GenomALC Consortium is one of the largest studies related to liver cirrhosis ever conducted. IU School of Medicine analyzed DNA samples of over 1700 alcoholic patients consisting of two groups – the first one with no history of alcohol-induced liver disease and the second with alcoholic cirrhosis – and performed DNA isolation for genome analysis.
Implying the significance of this study in preventing further cases and innovating effective therapies to combat liver cirrhosis, Dr. Liangpunsakul stated “Based on US data, alcohol-associated liver disease is on the rise in terms of the prevalence and incidents and it is happening more often in younger patients”.
Liver disease is the 10th most common cause of death in India as per the World Health Organization and around 10 lakh patients of liver cirrhosis are diagnosed every year in India. India’s next major lifestyle illness could be alcoholic liver cirrhosis after diabetes. Thus, making the outcome of the study more relevant than ever.