They said that the high rate of body fat among the relatives of carriers of the mutated gene suggested that mutations by themselves did not account for obesity.
In the trial, which included 55 patients, tumors dramatically shrank in 9 of 16 very advanced patients with the gene mutation who got high doses--a better response rate than doctors have remembered seeing in a trial for advanced melanoma.
He noted that for ear infections, Native Americans have a high rate, whites have a moderate rate and blacks have the lowest rates, but "no one has come up with a gene that explains that, " he said.