Glucocorticoids, a class of steroid hormones, are often used to treat muscular dystrophy. Unfortunately, prolonged use of this steroid medication also has potentially damaging side effects, including muscle wasting, bone fragility, cataracts, high blood pressure, and behavioral abnormalities. A recent study published in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has implications for using a particular gene (KLF15) to achieve the benefits of glucocorticoids without the detrimental side effects.

The scientists who conducted the research, at Case Western Reserve University, found that glucocorticoids exert their beneficial effects only through interacting with the KLF15 gene, but that the gene itself does not trigger the side effects. The research involved removing the gene from mice and then comparing the results with mice that had the gene. The goal was to determine “whether we can achieve these same effects by pharmacologically manipulating KLT15 directly, independent of glucocorticoids.” The researchers are now screening for drugs that will selectively activate the gene without utilizing the steroid medication.

This study illustrates how physicians and scientists are turning more and more to the study of genes to develop new ways of treating diseases. Treatment of various cancers — and even predictions of who will develop the cancers — is now often based on studies of the genetic makeup of the diseases and the patients who have them.