ORTHOPEDICS
Finding a Needle in a Haystack
What can studying identical twins reveal about the potential role of epigenetics in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis ?
Surgery is the bread and butter of pediatric orthopedics , and physicians tend to focus on solutions rather than causes . That makes sense when you consider just how difficult it is to nail down the genetic and molecular basis of musculoskeletal diseases . But Nancy Hadley-Miller , MD , has spent her career trying to do just that . She has long employed a research-based approach to adolescent idiopathic scoliosis ( AIS ), meticulously hunting down the genes that both cause it and make it worse . Her latest study focusing on DNA methylation in identical twins with AIS has identified areas of the genome that could hold key information ( 1 ).
AIS is one of the most common forms of scoliosis , causing spinal deformity in 1 % to 3 % of adolescents . Dr . Hadley-Miller says that while the disease is not fatal , its impacts — financial , social , physical and emotional — are devastating for kids and families .
And though it ’ s clear there ’ s a strong genetic component , researchers haven ’ t pinned down the combination of genes that
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