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Research stirs hope on Down syndrome
January 10, 2006

By Carey Goldberg, Globe Staff  |  July 10, 2006

Once, the explanation for Down syndrome was simple: You were born with an extra, third copy of the 21st chromosome, with effects ranging from mental retardation to heart problems. Then science began to delve into trickier questions: How, exactly, did the extra chromosome act? Which of the hundreds of genes on it mattered, and what did they do?

Now researchers have hopes again for a bit of simplicity. New work in mice suggests that one gene on the chromosome is a major contributor to Down syndrome's learning impairment. And if that's so, then perhaps researchers could devise a treatment targeted at that one gene rather than having to counteract the effects of an entire chromosome.

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