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Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have discovered a genetic risk factor for severe liver disease in people with cystic fibrosis. Those who carry a particular variant of the SERPINA1 gene (also known as alpha-1-antitrypsin or alpha-1-antiprotease) are five times more likely to develop cirrhosis and other liver complications than patients who carry the normal version of the gene. 

Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have discovered a genetic risk factor for severe liver disease in people with cystic fibrosis. Those who carry a particular variant of the SERPINA1 gene (also known as alpha-1-antitrypsin or alpha-1-antiprotease) are five times more likely to develop cirrhosis and other liver complications than patients who carry the normal version of the gene. 

The study, which appears in the Sept. 9 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), could lead to earlier detection and diagnosis of cystic fibrosis liver disease and better treatment options for the patients affected by the disease. In addition, it could pave the way for similar studies in more common forms of liver disease.

“I predict that as we uncover more risk factors of liver disease in cystic fibrosis we may also find that they play a role in how rapidly people with a more common malady, such as viral hepatitis, develop liver complications (or “fibrosis”),” said senior study author Michael R. Knowles, M.D., professor of pulmonary and critical care medicine at UNC. read more…

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