The peculiar family who don't feel pain

• Autores: Jessica Hamzelou
• Localización: New scientist, ISSN 0262-4079, Nº. 3157-3158, 2017, pág. 14
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • An Italian family that barely senses pain has had the genetic root of their shared disorder uncovered. Understanding this gene may lead to new painkillers. The affected family members include a 78-year-old woman, her two daughters and their three children. All of them fail to sense pain the way most of us do, and don't notice when they injure themselves. When they were assessed, the individuals were found to have fractures in their arms and legs that they hadn't realized were there. To find the cause of this lack of pain sensitivity, James Cox of University of College London and his colleagues performed a series of tests. The team found that all six family members had a typical number of nerves in their skin, but that they all had a mutation in a gene called ZFHX2.