Affymetrix DNA chips seek clues to SIDS, autism

July 21, 2004 – Affymetrix Inc. (Nasdaq: AFFX, News, Web) is putting its DNA chips to work in efforts to unlock the genetic secrets of two disorders.

The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company’s GeneChip Mapping 10K microarray was used to discover a gene linked to one form of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), an umbrella term for infants that die unexpectedly of unknown causes. Although several other genes are associated with SIDS, this is the first gene identified that causes a primary form of the syndrome, according to a news release.

Researchers at the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) in Phoenix and the Clinic for Special Children in Strasburg, Pa., used the Affymetrix arrays to analyze DNA from four infants from a Pennsylvania Amish community who had died of SIDS, along with their parents, siblings and extended family members. The scientists narrowed the location of the disorder to a particular chromosomal region. All affected infants had two abnormal copies of the particular gene, and all parents were carriers.

Future work will examine the effects of the gene on the normal control of breathing and heart rate in normal but premature infants. The gene could be used as a diagnostic marker and to develop treatments, the release said.

Affymetrix also announced the microarray platform is part of what sponsors are calling the largest study ever conducted to find the genes associated with autism and determine its causes.

The National Alliance for Autism Research’s Autism Genome Project is analyzing about 6,000 samples of DNA from 1,500 affected families in a search for autism susceptibility genes. TGen will perform the scan with hardware and equipment provided by Affymetrix, according to another release.

A second scan based on microsatellite technology will be conducted by the Center for Inherited Disease Research, a genotyping facility affiliated with the National Human Genome Research Institute and supported by the National Institutes of Health.

In each case, research has been limited in part because available technology could not examine the genome with such detail and speed, the releases said.

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