Knock outgenes

 
Published: Tuesday 15 July 1997

A new study has revealed that some boxers are genetically predisposed to suffer brain damage due to blows taken on the head. The findings were presented at the World Boxing Council's first medical conference on boxing safety at the Caribbean island of Aruba by Barry JordAn, a neurologist at the University 0 California at Los Angeles, USA. He told sports doctors that fighters born with a common variant for a protein called ApoE, known as c4 allele, are more likely to develop brain damage in the boxing ring. The -4 allele is known to put its bearers at a high risk of developing Alzheimer's disease, the symptoms of which are similar to those of punch-drunk syndrome which afflicts at least 10 per cent of boxers and is characterised by poor memory, loss of coordination and slurred speech. This can explain why some boxers survive hundreds of punishing bouts without suffering any obvious brain damage, while others show serious neurological symptoms after only a few blows to the head (New Scientist, Vol 154,No 2082).

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