New EU project to study dwarfism
The genetic causes of dwarfism are the focus of a new EU-funded project that has just got underway. The EuroGrow project, which is coordinated by the University of Manchester, brings together 10 research organisations from Europe and Australia. It is funded by the EU Sixth Framework Programme (FP6) to the tune of €3.14 million, with an additional €500,000 coming from the Australian Medical Research Council. There are over 200 types of bone disorder which lead to dwarfism, and although individually rare, they have a combined incidence of over one in 4,000. Previous research has identified the genetic mutations which cause some of these conditions, and the researchers now plan to focus in on the most common causes of dwarfism. One of the conditions which will be studied more closely is achondroplasia, the most common cause of dwarfism, which affects one in 10,000 children. Sufferers have an average height of just 1.2 metres and have disproportionately short arms and legs. The researchers will also study psuedoachondroplasia and spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia congenita. In addition to dwarfism, affected people also suffer severe arthritis in adulthood. In the near term the scientists hope to improve diagnosis of these disorders, and in the longer term they hope their work will lead to new treatments. 'This is an exciting project that brings together an international group of experts to hopefully rapidly advance our knowledge of the genetic causes of dwarfism,' said Dr Mike Briggs of the University of Manchester. 'By the end of this research we hope to have identified the major molecular problems that cause these disorders, and to be much closer to identifying potential therapeutic targets.'