Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
News

New Fanconi Genes Found

Two new genes related to Fanconi anemia were discovered in August 2005, bringing to 11 the number of genes identified as having links to the disease.

The newly discovered genes, called FANCJ and FANCM, are involved in the process of DNA repair and inch scientists closer to an understanding of F.A. Researchers suspect that a total of 12 genes are involved in the development of the disorder.

F.A. is a recessive hereditary disease; the children of parents with mutations in the same F.A. gene have a 25% chance of developing it. Although F.A. occurs in all ethnic groups, it is most prevalent among Ashkenazic Jews, who have a one in 87 chance of being carriers.

F.A. sufferers usually experience bone-marrow failure and develop leukemia. Patients also have heightened susceptibility to other forms of cancer. F.A. patients are usually of small stature, tend to feel extreme fatigue and have frequent infections.

Scientists have tried to keep their enthusiasm over the new discoveries in check, as the process of how these genes interact to create F.A. is still poorly understood.

?There?s a lot of work to be done from here,? said Dr. Arleen Auerbach, a professor at New York?s Rockefeller University and a leading expert on F.A. Auerbach is also the founder of a registry devoted to tracing the genes in the Ashkenazic gene pool.

?Once we know all of the genes, that may help us have a better understanding of the whole process,? Auerbach said.

The newly identified genes may also shed new light on some of the factors that cause breast cancer, as the protein created by FANCJ reacts with two other proteins that are known to cause that disease.

In the year since the two genes were identified, researchers have not yet found Jewish carriers of the genes, but even if no Jews are carriers of the new genes the discoveries will enable scientists to better understand how F.A. causes cancer.

Currently, bone-marrow cancer is the most common disease associated with F.A. Bone-marrow transplants, which are risky and produce unpredictable results, are the most common treatment.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.