Speeding up Dupuytren research
A hand surgery colleague just sent me hand pictures of a patient he had treated with needle aponeurotomy seven years ago. His patient recently had a recurrence and had an excellent outcome with repeat needle aponeurotomy. A great result, more impressive because things don’t always go as well. It’s an example of the ups and downs […]
IDDB, biomarkers and big data to cure Dupuytren disease
The International Dupuytren Data Bank (IDDB) will focus on Dupuytren biomarkers Why are biomarkers important for Dupuytren disease? Dupuytren contracture is an effect, not a cause. Think of fever. Fever is an effect of infection, drug reaction, or something else. Just treating the effect – the fever – doesn’t cure the cause. You have to find […]
IDDB Research for a Cure: Enrollment is Open
Today is the day. The International Dupuytren Data Bank is now live. Independent. Crowdsourced. Massive. Free. The biggest Dupuytren research study ever. Enroll now at DupStudy.com Tell everyone with Dupuytren disease to enroll. DupStudy.com Together, we will find a cure.
Blue Eyes, Dupuytren Disease, and Alcoholism
A recent study linked blue eyes with genetic risk for alcoholism. Interesting, because Dupuytren disease is more common in people with light colored eyes and according to some studies, Dupuytren is linked to chronic alcoholism. It’s a match! Or is it? Other studies conclude alcoholism is not a risk for Dupuytren disease. Both Dupuytren and blue eyes are more common in […]
Similar genes found in Dupuytren’s and Peyronie’s
Dupuytren’s and Peyronie’s disease are believed to be related, to share a common genetic starting point. This has been an assumption, not hard fact: the genetic starting points of these conditions are not yet known, much less known to be the same. Doctors have been wrong on these issues in the past: in the 1800’s, […]
RNA, Growth Factors and Dupuytren’s
Sorting out the genetic basis of Dupuytren’s is not simply a matter of finding out which genes are involved. The goal is to understand the biochemistry of exactly what these specific genes do to either start or fail to stop the process of Dupuytren’s. Cell biology is always a domino like set of events with […]
Genes, enzymes and Dupuytren’s: the alphabet name game.
A proteinase is an enzyme which breaks down proteins. Metalloproteinases (MPs) are proteinases with a molecular structure and function involves a metal atom, usually zinc. Matrix Metalloproteinases (MMPs) are MPs which act outside of cells, in the tissue matrix. Human collagenases are MMPs which break down different types of collagen. Membrane-type MMPs (MT-MMPs) are MMPs […]
Dupuytren’s Genes
The hunt is on for the genetic basis of Dupuytren’s. A interesting analysis of the chromosome patterns found in Dupuytren’s tissue found a variety of genetic abnormalities and the unexpected finding that these variations were not found in the skin but were seen in areas of palmar fascia not usually involved with Dupuytren’s. (full text: […]
The Dupuytren Symposium is coming!
As tomorrow’s deadline for abstract submission nears, internet connections are heating up at command central for the 2010 International Symposium on Dupuytren’s Disease. The symposium syllabus looks very exciting, with some amazing new reports. Session topics have solidified as: The Myofibroblast; Genetics and Demographics; Disease Concepts; Collagen and Collagenase; Surgical Treatments; Energy Based Treatments; Manual […]
To understand Dupuytren’s, first understand women.
Is Dupuytren’s a tumor – an independent growth, or is it a reaction of normal tissues to a stimulus? Is a woman one person or several people sharing the same body? This paper answers both questions. Every female human has two X chromosomes, one from each parent, but in any individual cell, only one X […]
