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Biotech / Medical : Ligand (LGND) Breakout! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Andrew H who wrote (17486)	3/16/1998 9:24:00 AM
From: Henry Niman	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 32384

Andy, As I have said previously, many at LGND actually read this board for entertainment purposes. Looks like the Buffet effect, Clinton effect, and no news effect have brought out the buyers early. LGND's bid and ask raised to 16 3/16 X 16 1/4 prior to open.

To: Andrew H who wrote (17486)	3/16/1998 8:34:00 PM
From: Henry Niman	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 32384

Intersting finding on control of leptin: Researchers Link Gene to Hispanic, Black Obesity By DON FINLEY c.1998 San Antonio Express-News SAN ANTONIO -- Researchers say they have pinpointed a gene that appears to have a major effect on obesity in both Mexican Americans and African Americans by regulating the hormone leptin. Variations in the gene appear to be responsible for about half the high leptin levels found in both ethnic groups, said Anthony Comuzzie, a geneticist at Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research. ''This is a remarkable finding,'' he said. Leptin is produced by another gene, the OB gene, and is secreted by fat cells. Researchers believe there is a correlation between high leptin levels in the blood and obesity. Discovery of a regulatory gene for leptin could lead to a better understanding of the hormone's complex mechanism and provide clues toward better treatments for obesity, Comuzzie said. About a third of Americans are considered obese and the percentage is even higher among minorities. Obesity has been linked to diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, osteoarthritis and some cancers. Comuzzie discussed the still-unpublished findings at the Southwest Foundation Forum meeting here Wednesday. A similar presentation was presented at the same time at a scientific meeting in San Diego. The gene, called POMC, which stands for proopiomelanocortin, is located on Chromosome 2. Last year, the group published a report in the journal Nature Medicine that said they had narrowed the search for the gene to a region on Chromosome 2. ''This is the strongest indication of a gene being involved in this type of trait,'' Comuzzie said. The findings are the latest from the San Antonio Family Heart Study, a seven-year study of some 1,400 Mexican Americans in San Antonio. After proving the genetic association in Mexican Americans, the group collaborated with researchers in Chicago to confirm the findings in a group of 600 blacks, Comuzzie said. In November, researchers at Oregon Health Sciences University in Portland published a study in Science magazine linking high leptin levels and obesity in mice to a defect in a part of the brain affected by the protein produced by the POMC gene. ''POMC was studied quite extensively in the late '70s through the '80s, mainly for neurological implications,'' Comuzzie said. ''It was implicated early on in schizophrenia and other things, which never panned out.'' Comuzzie said the POMC gene has a complicated role in the regulation of several important body systems, particularly in the brain. Leptin has been the subject of intense research since scientists at Rockefeller University in New York demonstrated three years ago it caused fat mice to shed weight.