
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, November 1, 1993                   TAG: 9311010084
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-3   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: San Francisco Chronicle
DATELINE: SAN FRANCISCO                                LENGTH: Short

RESEARCHERS FIND HEMOPHILIA DEFECT

Aided by inspired guesswork about how DNA might scramble itself, a San Francisco-based team of researchers has found the defect - an odd stretch of backwards genes - behind about half of all cases of severe hemophilia.

The scientists are now helping develop a simple blood test that can detect which people carry the unusual defect, and thus are likely to have offspring with this form of hemophilia.

Coupled with tests for previously deciphered forms of hemophilia, the new discovery will help doctors to detect most of the genetic flaws responsible for the bleeding disorder. In all, that will allow them to explain about one-fifth of all cases of hemophilia.

Prenatal tests should also permit would-be parents to learn early in a pregnancy, and in time for an abortion if they so choose, whether their potential offspring carry the newly found defect.

Nearly all cases of hemophilia are in boys, who inherit the responsible genes from their mothers. About one in 5,000 boys has hemophilia, but the severity can vary widely.

by CNB