Mother's illness leads to discovery

A woman who suffered a rare genetic mutation which she passed on to her daughter has helped find the gene for one of the country's most common inherited diseases.

Scientists from the Medical Research Council, Oxford, and the Institute of Medical Genetics, Cardiff, investigating a potentially lethal kidney disorder in the woman and her child discovered a genetic mutation which led them to the gene for polycystic kidney disease, which affects 50,000 people in Britain and can lead to complete renal failure by 60. They say the discovery will help diagnosis and treatment.