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Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have located the genetic key which, when damaged, causes the body’s skeletal muscles and soft connective tissue to undergo a metamorphosis into bone, progressively locking joints in place and rendering movement impossible. Identifying the gene that causes Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva (FOP), one of the rarest and most disabling musculoskeletal conditions known to humans and a condition that imprisons its childhood victims in a “second skeleton,” has been the focus at Pennsylvania’s Center for Research in FOP and Related Disorders for the past 15 years. This important discovery is relevant, not only for patients with FOP, but also for those with more common musculoskeletal conditions.
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