The second screening of the samples was carried out by semiquantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) – a biochemistry and molecular biology technique for isolating and exponentially amplifying a fragment or sequence of interest of DNA, via enzymatic replication, without using a living organism – using gene-specific primers.

Finally, the expression levels of the candidate genes were further confirmed by quantitative real-time PCR using a new set of samples: 20 patients with narcolepsy with cataplexy and 20 healthy controls.

According to the study, the second screening revealed differential expression of four candidate genes, among which MX2 was confirmed as a significantly down-regulated gene in the white blood cells of narcoleptic patients by quantitative real-time PCR.

“In narcolepsy, it has been suggested that specific alterations in the immune system occur, and it’s important for pathophysiology of this disorder,” said Tanaka. “We thought that we can get these specific alterations by a differential display method using white blood cells. In this study, we applied the new ACP technology to RNA extracted from blood cells and successfully identified the MX2 gene as a dysregulated gene in narcoleptic patients. However, the direct relationship of this gene in narcolepsy has not been elucidated. Further study is needed to explore the functional relationship between the MX2 gene and narcolepsy and characterize the effect of interferons in narcolepsy.”

Narcolepsy is a sleep disorder that causes people to fall asleep uncontrollably during the day. It also includes features of dreaming that occur while awake. Other common symptoms include sleep paralysis, hallucinations and cataplexy.

About one out of every 2,000 people is known to have narcolepsy. The chance that you have narcolepsy is higher when a relative also has it. It is very rare for more than two people in the same family to have this sleep disorder. It affects the same number of men and women.

Those who suspect they might be suffering from narcolepsy, or another sleep disorder, are urged to consult with their primary care doctor or a sleep specialist.

SLEEP is the official journal of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies, LLC, a joint venture of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) and the Sleep Research Society.

SleepEducation.com, a Web site maintained by the AASM, provides information about the various sleep disorders that exist, the forms of treatment available, recent news on the topic of sleep, sleep studies that have been conducted and a listing of sleep facilities.

For a copy of this article, entitled, “Identification of Differentially Expressed Genes in Blood Cells of Narcolepsy Patients”, or to arrange an interview with an AASM spokesperson regarding this study, please contact Jim Arcuri, public relations coordinator, at (708)492-0930, ext. 9317, or jarcuri@aasmnet.org.