Hot news flash - Brief Article

Researchers at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham and Women's Hospital recently discovered a gene in mice that seems to cause them to undergo early menopause--a condition similar to one that afflicts some 250,000 women in the United States.

During the study, scientists examined mice that lacked copies of the Foxo3a gene--a member of the forkhead gene family. Forkhead genes are regulators, which turn other genes on and off. They're believed to control processes related to aging, cancer and diabetes. Researchers observed that female mice that lacked the gene had fewer and smaller litters than those with the gene--and that the gene-less mice were sterile by 15 weeks of age--which roughly equates to early adulthood in humans.

Lead researcher Diego H. Castrillon, MD, PhD, compares the process to sand in an hourglass: "Menopause occurs when all the grains of sand have fallen. In mice lacking the Foxo3a gene, all of the grains fall out very quickly: Our findings raise the possibility that increased activation of eggs over a woman's lifespan could result in ... early menopause" Therefore, researchers may be able to develop a contraceptive that delays activation of a woman's eggs until she wants to become fertile--at any" age she chooses. The study was published in the July 11 issue of Science.