A Research Study On Cystic Fibrosis

CF is a chronic condition therefore the patients are either seeking medical attention or receiving (sometime involuntarily) a great deal of medical scrutiny and intervention during their lifetime.

Cystic Fibrosis (CF) is an autosomal recessive genetic disease that causes thickened mucus to form in the lungs, pancreas, and other organs. It affects a specific protein called Cystic Fibrosis Transmembrane Regulator (CFTR) that controls the normal movement of sodium, chloride, and water in and out of the cells within the body. Those diagnosed with CF have either too little or abnormal CFTR. When CFTR is absent or defective, the mucus usually secreted by the cells in the pulmonary airways, pancreatic ducts, and gastrointestinal tract become thickened, leading to obstructions, frequent infection, and loss of function in the affected organs (Cystic Fibrosis Symptoms, Causes & Risk Factors, 2018). According to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation

Cystic Fibrosis (CF) is a genetic disorder in which mucus glands produce abnormally thick secretions. These secretions can lead to chronic infections of the lungs and eventually lead to obstruction of the pancreas, resulting in digestive enzyme deficiency, the liver is also sometimes affected. Secretions from the sweat and salivary glands of a CF patient frequently contain abnormally high amounts of sodium and chloride. Because the body produces a high amount of salt, a sweat test is generally used to diagnose the disorder.

The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation provides support to help improve the lives of people who live with the disease. The foundation’s main goal is to find a cure to Cystic Fibrosis is an inherited disease caused by changed in a gene on chromosome seven. It is described as a buildup of mucus in the lungs and organs. The mucus in the lungs clogs the airways and bacteria grows, gets blocked in and eventually leads to infections that causes lung damage. After lung damage has occurred, respiratory failure then happens.

“If a baby was diagnosed with CF in the 1950s, parents were told to take them home and enjoy them because they would not make it to kindergarten,” Lora says. Today, babies diagnosed with the illness are growing into adults who live well into their 40s and

Cystic fibrosis is known to be one of the most common and deadly diseases in Caucasians, affecting 1 in 2500 children. This percentage results in 30,000 individuals within the United States to be diagnosed with CF. There are over 1900 mutations of this gene that cause a wide variety of severities within this disease. (McCance, Huether, Brashers, & Rote, 2010) Due to its complex mutation and unknown cause, only treating the symptoms of CF have been the main treatment protocol to this disease. Current treatments are cumbersome and expensive providing patients with life expectancy only into their twenties, but usually younger in most cases. There has been specific progress towards a cure involving gene therapy providing hope for a cure to

Cystic Fibrosis (CF) is a common genetic disorder that affects the exocrine gland in the lungs, liver, pancreas, and intestines causing progressive disability due to multisystem failure. It is also known as “mucoviscidosis because of the mucus that builds up and blocks the respiratory system and pancreas”(Bedwell). Cystic Fibrosis affects the cells that produce mucus, sweat, and digestive juices. It causes these fluids to become thick and sticky. With them becoming so thick and sticky they can plug up tubes, duct, and passageways. Unfortunately, there is no real cure for Cystic Fibrosis. “Although, the new developments in treatment and management, the 50 percent survival rate from the 1970’s has greatly improved, allowing patients to continue to live their lives longer than ever expected in the past. New developments in prevention of exacerbations, therapy drugs and methods to preserve

The type of mutation that causes Cystic Fibrosis occurs in the CFTR gene, or Cystic Fibrosis Transmembrane Conductance Regulator gene. This gene is important to the body because it helps provide channels that transport negatively charged particles (chloride ions) in and out of the cell. Chloride has an important role in the human body by how it controls the movement of water in tissue, which allows mucus to become thin. Mutations in the CFTR gene interrupts the function of the chloride channels. It makes the regulating process of the flow of chloride ions and water across the cell membranes not happen. This causes passageways to produce mucus that is very thick. The thick mucus causes these passageways to clog, and trap

The CF gene is found in Chromosome 7. Mutations in the CFTR gene cause cystic fibrosis. This protein functions as a channel across the membrane of cells that produce mucus, sweat, saliva, tears, and digestive enzymes The CFTR gene provides instructions for making a channel that transports negatively charged particles called chloride ions into and out of cells. Chloride is a component of sodium chloride, a common salt found in sweat. The official name of this gene is “cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator “or

Cystic Fibrosis is an inherited disease caused by mutations in a gene on 7th pair of chromosomes. Cystic Fibrosis is a chromosomal abnormality, meaning that one of the 23 pairs of chromosomes are not what they are supposed to be. A person without Cystic Fibrosis has a gene in chromosome 7, which produces a normal and substantial amount of protein called Cystic Fibrosis transmembrane regulator (CFTR), which in turn produces thin and watery mucus. A person with Cystic Fibrosis has a gene in chromosome 7, which produces either abnormal CFTR protein or no CFTR protein at all, which causes the body to produce thick and sticky mucus “A person with CF produces abnormal CFTR protein — or no CFTR protein at all, which causes the body to make thick,

Cystic Fibrosis, a very serious inherited genetic disease, is also known as CF and sixty-five roses. This disease affects one in every 3,000 live births. It may first appear in a newborn, but can appear all the way up until a young adult. However, ten percent of most cases are apparent at birth. CF affects the lungs and causes a build-up of abnormally thick mucus which leads to chest infections, and CF also affects the reproductive system. Doctors do not know what causes the mucus to thicken. CF’s infections usually lead to death in childhood and early adulthood. Most people infected with CF had a life span into their teens long ago. Now, due to advanced technology, the life span is in the fifties or older.

(cure, care, prevention, if any?) There is currently no cure for Cystic Fibrosis. A person who has Cystic Fibrosis may consume up to 40 capsules daily which assist them to digest food, in some cases sufferers always may need to do up to three hours of airway clearance every day. Treatment generally includes some of the following: intensive daily physiotherapy to clear the lungs, salt and vitamin supplements, exercise (as it is important to clear airways) and antibiotic therapy to treat lung infections. From birth a person who has Cystic Fibrosis undergoes consistent medical treatment and

The impacts of CF on a human can be very serious and life-shortening. A person with CF usually has their airways blocked by the mucus produced, therefore having trouble breathing. This can also result in the person running out of breath easily, and not being able to exercise for long periods of time. The person affected by CF needs to be checked regularly at Cystic Fibrosis Care Centers to maintain their CF. They should always take the medicine prescribed by their CF manager/doctor. A person affected by CF can’t do all the regular activities that people who aren’t affected by CF can do, like running, going to the gym and general strenuous activities. People affected with CF usually have a life expectancy of around 40 years assuming that the

The gene codes for an epithelial channel protein in the lung and pancreatic and the mutation leads to alteration of function of the protein. The protein serves like a chloride channel of the pulmonary epithelium and loss of its working renders the lung surface impermeable to chloride ions. This leads to a change in viscosity of the mucus produced from being thin and lubricating to being thick, sticky and frothy (Kumar et al p223). The complication is hence also called mucoviscidosis. The heavy mucus blocks the lung that makes the patient susceptible to a myriad of bacterial diseases. The pancreatic ducts when affected and clogged, the flow of pancreatic juice is impaired leading to defective digestion of food. Although cystic fibrosis is a typical example of “one gene-one disease” axiom with the CFTR gene being involved, current research shows involvement of other genetic modifiers such as mannose-binding lectin which affect the intensity as well as severity of organ specific manifestations (Kumar et al

Cystic Fibrosis is caused by a genetic defect in Chromosome 7. Chromosome 7 encodes the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator, also known as CFTR. There are over 1,000 mutations of this gene causing cystic fibrosis, with each mutation manifesting as a different variation of disease onset and clinical presentation. The most common mutation is the loss of phenylalanine residue at deltaF508. The abnormal functioning CFTR causes impaired chloride transport and more viscous secretions. The defect causes dehydrated secretions in the respiratory tract and gastrointestinal tract. Being dehydrated, these secretions become more difficult to move throughout the body. Along with impaired