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Protein May Be Linked To SIDS Deaths

June 18, 2007

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Mysterious as it is tragic, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) claims thousands of young lives each year. Now an Australian study, led by the University of Adelaide, could help identify the cause of this killer.

Pediatric pathologist Professor Roger Byard has launched a joint research project with the University of Aarhus in Denmark to study the presence of a protein found in some babies who have died from SIDS.

The project will investigate whether changes in brain levels of Amyloid Precursor Protein (APP) in infants may be a marker for potentially deadly breathing difficulties. APP is a protein which accumulates in the brain when there has been an injury to nerve fibers.

Byard said the brain tissue of about 200 children who had died of the syndrome in Adelaide and Denmark would be tested for APP.

“Evidence that the protein is present in SIDS babies will not lead to a cure or a diagnostic test, but will help researchers understand the cause. It could also help prevent the syndrome recurring in the same family,” he said.

“It will help us to understand why these children have died – because they may have trouble breathing and that’s not been shown before – but it will also help with families who have already had a SIDS death.”

The University of Adelaide is one of the few centers in Australia that has looked at the presence of APP in SIDS babies.

Preliminary work by Professor Byard’s team has recently been published in the American Journal of Forensic Medicine and Pathology, resulting in the commissioning of the ground-breaking research project.

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