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Thursday August 11, 2005
Researchers isolating glaucoma gene tirijc Charlotte lost
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
RALEIGH—In his waiting
room, Dr. Rand AUingham
saw all the evidence he need
ed of glaucoma’s dispropor
tionate impact on his black
patients—the speed and
intensity with which the dis
ease ravaged eyes, robbing
victims of their sight.
lb find the reason, and a
potential treatment, the oph
thalmologist decided to seek
an answer in the DNA of
blacks. His journey took him
into the eyes of Ghana, a west
Afiican nation where ^auco-
ma is also widespread.
AUingham believes
researchers have a better
chance of finding the offend-
ii^ gene in Ghana because
the nation is more than 98
percent Afiican, He and his
i*esearch^ hope the ladk of
outsiders in the population
wiU help them isolate the
gene or genes that lead to-
glaucoma in that nation—
and possibly in blacks in the
United Stat^, many of whom
trace their ancestry to slaves
brought to this country fixjm
Ghana.
IVyLng to find a potential
genetic cause of glaucoma in
blacks in difficult in the
United States, where blacks
have lived alongside
Europeans, Asians and
Native Americans for cen
turies, he said.
“I reaUy didn’t think
Afiican-Americans came to
this coimtry and then devel
oped glaucoma,” he said. “The
U.S. is a meltii^ pot. When
you look at it genetically 25
percent of Afiican-Americans
have European blood. Our
population in the U.S. is not
what you’d call a pure popula
tion geneticaUy”
Glaucoma is the leading
cause of irreversible blind
ness in the world and affects
about 2 percent of the
American population 40
years and older, accordii^ to
the National Eye Institute in
Bethesda, Md. Blacks are
nearly three times more like
ly than whites to suffer firom
the disease.
It acts slowly Over time, it
prevents fluid fix>m draining
properly fix)m the eye,
increasing pressure and
inflicting damage.
The disease rate isn’t
known in Ghana, wha:e no
studies of glaucoma have
been conducted, Aflingham
said. The entire country has
about five ophthalmologists
for its 18 million residmts—
and none specialize in glauco
ma, said Pratap ChaUa, a
researcher on AUingham’s
team.
For the past pight years,
AUingham and a team of
researchers fix>m Duke
University have worked
intermittently in Ghana,
tending to glaucoma patients,
teaching health care
providers to treat eye disease
and coUecting blood samples
fiDm families with a history
of glaucoma.
“One thing that surprised
us was how advanced the dis
ease would be before people
came in (for treatment),”
ChaUa said.
In Ghana, bUndness oftm
leads to a life spent in one
room, alone, AUingham said.
“The families take care of
them, but they don’t go any
where,” he said. “There’s no
resources for the blind. When
you see it firsthand, it’s reaUy
sad It’s horrificaUy sad to see
Uttle chUdren.”
Two years ago, the National
Eye Institute agreed to
finance a three-year,
$450,000 pUpt project led by
AUingham, aUowing his
research team to make more
regular visits to Ghana. They
are also working with a team
at the University of Ghana in
Accra, the nation’s capital,
that examines patients, col
lects blood samples, extracts
DNA and stores the samples.
During this time, they have
doubled the number of genet
ic samples in their study and
set up a control population
that does not have the dis
ease. They will compare the
DNA samples of the control
group with those with the dis
ease, hoping to find a gene
that’s common to those with
glaucoma.
Paul Sieving, director of the
National Eye Institute, a
division of the National
Institutes of Health, said
such research holds promise.
Researchers have found
nearly 450 g«nes responsible
for eye diseases, but haven’t
found one yet bdieved to be a
m^or cause of glaucoma, he
said.
Looking for it in Africa,
among a geneticaUy clean
population where the disease
is prevalent, makes sense, he
said.
“That’s the kind of creativi
ty that makes difficult ques
tions a Uttle more tractable,”
said Seiving, who does his
own genetic studies on
patients who have macular
degeneration and retinal
degeneration. “It’s a tremen
dous appUcation.”
Of course, finding the g^e
won’t lead immediately to a
cure.
‘Wh^ you got the gene,
then your imagination can
take over,” Seiving said. “You
can make a copy, repair it,
avoid it. It gets reaUy excit
ing.”
Students trace roots
Continued from page 1B
more difficult searches,
were asked to bring pic
tures of relatives from
home.
“It’s pretty rough to have
to get up early in the sum
mer and drag yoiu'self down
to the library, but it was
worth it,” said 12-year-old
Jordan Rock. “I found out
about 'Wild Man’ Rock, who
was a Mardi Gras Indian
master. And L.C.
Beauregard, he was in my
family and he was a mulat
to policeman in the 1880s.”
As fascinated as Jordan
was with his ancestors, his
15-year-old sister, Amandia,
was even more amazed by
the discovery of a white
member of the family tree.
“She was my father’s
great, great, great grand
mother,” Amandia said. “I
was shocked. I never
thought of myself as being
white in any way.”
Akanke McKinsey, 10,
said she thought the camp
might be boring, but it was
n’t: “It was like reading a
story about me,” she said.
There is plenty of room for your advertisement
AUingham and his team
plan to return to Ghana on
Saturday for another wedi-
long stay There are undoubt
edly many more such trips
ahead.
“(jJetting to that cure stage,
it’s going to be chaUenging,”
he said. “We’re kind of Uteral-
ly in the Model A period when
it comes to genetics.”
On the Net:
Duke Eye Center:
ww\vJukeeyex)rg
National Eye Institute:
\v\v\vj\ei mh.gov
Akanke proudly dis
played a picture of a 1910
federal grand jiu-y that
shows her ancestor Homer
Cyprien. "”He was the first
black man invited to sit on
a federal grand jury in
Louisiana,” she said.
Discoveries like that, and
the sense of family history
they give a child, are
important for the city of
New Orleans, said Mayor
•Ray Nagin.
“This may be one of the
ke}^ for unlocking what is
one of the biggest problems
in our city,” he said. “Our
young men, more than any
one else, need to know
their history. They are the
ones dropping out of school
and getting into drugs and
crime and shooting each
other.”
Harrell-Miller said she
welcomes white pampers
next summer. She said it is
easier for people with
European ancestors to
trace their genealogy
because records have been
better preserved, she said.
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