Cystic Fibrosis
By William Knoblock & Brenden Arcieri
About
Cystic Fibrosis is a disease that changes how your body makes mucus and sweat. It affects how well your lungs, some other body parts work, and your digestive system. It’s caused by a flawed gene.
Symtoms
- Burning pain in the abdomen and chest
- May cough up blood and mucas
- Shortness of breath and wheezing
- Causes diarrhea and bulky stool
DNA Structure
Located on human chromosome 7, The gene is made up of 250,000 DNA nucleotides.
Treatment
Can be cured by antibiotics such as Piperacillin/Tazobactum and Azithromcin. Also Azithromcin liquid by mouth.
Recent Research
Researchers from Eindhoven University of Technology and McGill University in Montreal (Canada) have taken an important step towards developing a drug against cystic fibrosis. In people suffering from this illness the CFTR protein is not located in the right place in mucus-producing cells: it remains inside the cell while it should be in the cell wall. Those cells secrete a tough mucus with serious consequences. However, the researchers have succeeded in conducting the CFTR to the cell walls. Their findings are published this week in the leading science journal PNAS (Science Daily).