The 40,000-year-old genetic inheritance bestowed on us by the Neanderthals has been highlighted by a new study.
Researchers analyzed more than 7,000 people with Dupuytren's disease – a common condition particularly in northern Europe where people's fingers are permanently bent – to examine genetic risk factors.
Also called Dupuytren's contracture, it occurs when nodules appear in the ligaments beneath the skin of a person's palm, The British Society for Surgery of the Hand, and it is more commonly developed by men than women later in life.The study found that three important genetic risk factors were inherited from Neanderthals, after conducting research with clinical groups in the US, the UK, and Finland.
"Since Dupuytren's contracture is rarely seen in individuals of African descent, we wondered whether gene variants from Neanderthals can partly explain why people outside of Africa are affected," Hugo Zeberg, who led the study and a professor at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, said in aUp to about 30 percent of men over 60 years old suffer from this condition in northern Europe, the study published in the journal Molecular Biology and Evolution said.
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