The isolation of a gene that causes Tangier disease and affects the amount of "good" cholesterol in the blood may lead to treatments for heart disease.

Bodzioch, M. . . . and G. Schmitz. 1999. The gene encoding ATP-binding cassette transporter 1 is mutated in Tangier disease. Nature Genetics 22(August):347.

Brooks-Wilson A. . . . and M.R. Hayden. 1999. Mutations in ABC1 in Tangier disease and familial high-density lipoprotein deficiency. Nature Genetics 22(August):336.

Rust, S. . . . H.B. Brewer . . . and G. Assmann. 1999. Tangier disease is caused by mutations in the gene encoding ATP-binding cassette transporter 1. Nature Genetics 22(August):352.

Young, S.G., and C.J. Fielding. 1999. The ABCs of cholesterol efflux. Nature Genetics 22(August):316.

Gerd Assmann
Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität, Münster
Institut für Klinische Chemie und Laboratoriumsmedizin
Albert-Schweitzer-Strabe 33
D-48149 Münster
Germany

H. Bryan Brewer Jr.
National Institutes of Health
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
10 Center Drive MSC 1666
Building 10, Room 7N115
Bethesda, MD 20892

Michael R. Hayden
University of British Columbia
Center for Molecular Medicine and Therapeutics
Children’s and Women’s Hospital
950 West 28th Avenue
Vancouver, British Columbia V5Z 4H4
Canada

Gerd Schmitz
University of Regensburg
Institute for Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine
D-93042 Regensburg
Germany

From Science News, Vol. 156, No. 9, August 28, 1999, p. 134. Copyright © 1999, Science Service.