'Miracle Mouse' Created By A Molecular Scalpel

Scientists have created a "miracle mouse" with cutting-edge molecular biology technique that can survive a lethal disease, neonatal severe hyperparathyroidism (NSHPT), which is caused by silencing mutation in a critical gene responsible for sensing and responding to changes in calcium levels.

"Calcium concentration in blood is subtly controlled through the regulation of intestinal absorption, bone turnover and renal reabsorption of Ca2+ by parathyroid hormone (PTH), and the calcium-sensing receptor (CasR) has a central role in these processes. Inactivating mutations in CaSR were responsible for familial hypocalciuric hypercalcemia (FHH) in heterozygotes" says Dr. Qisheng Tu, a scientist from Duke University Medical Center in North Carolina. "Individuals who are homozygous for silencing mutations in CasR gene develop NSHPT,