Reversing Some Symptoms of Down’s

Can some symptoms of Down’s syndrome be reversed? There is hope for this based on a gene called XIST that has a silencing function normally found on the X chromosome where it is needed to suppress one of the two X chromosomes found in females. People with Down’s syndrome have an extra copy of chromosome 21 that changes the way they develop. XIST when activated appears to be able to silence chromosome 21. It also has ramifications in the fight against Alzheimer’s disease by preventing the expression of an APP gene on the extra chromosome that makes the beta-amyloid linked to Alzheimer’s, a protein that also hastens the progression of Down’s syndrome. Down’s is complicated and there are varying degrees of symptoms and characteristics involved with individuals that have it. Although XIST is not likely to be used to intervene in a living embryo’s development it may be able to be used to switch off the chromosome at different times and locations in people with Down’s in the near future.