Scientists Discover Sleep-Kicking Gene

July 18, 2007 — -- Late at night, Lynne Kaiser is awake.

It's a routine she has come to terms with over the last seven years, as her bout with restless legs syndrome (RLS) has become debilitating.

"It controls my life," she said.

Kaiser has had to go so far as to alter her occupation because RLS keeps her from holding a job during regular business hours.

"I created a job out of it. I'm an artist, so I did things I could do quietly late at night," she said. "I might go to bed from anywhere between 2 and 7 in the morning."

But by noon, her symptoms return, waking her and stealing much needed sleep for the rest of the day.

"I was not the mother I wanted to be because I didn't have the patience or the brain function or the ability to hold myself together," she said. "And God bless my husband -- I certainly wasn't the woman he married."

Kaiser's case is rare. Less than 3 percent of Americans are severely affected by RLS, and even fewer have the same troubles she does.

But what is normal about Kaiser's RLS experience is that, once she does fall asleep, she involuntarily kicks her legs.

"I own most of our bed. My husband gets about the top right eighth," she said. "Even the animals know: If they want to get into the bed, they don't lay near my legs at all."

Now, scientists may have pinpointed the gene that increases the chances that people will kick in their sleep. Their findings, which could have big implications for many RLS sufferers, are presented in the current issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

"One of the components of RLS that is found in somewhere around 80 percent of patients was, in addition to having discomfort in the legs, that they move their legs in a dramatic fashion," said Dr. Kári Stefánsson, president of deCODE Genetics, a biotechnology company based in Reykjavik, Iceland.

The company, which has been tracking down disease genes since 1996, was heavily involved with the new study. This same company has successfully located other specific sections of DNA that contribute to diseases such as type 2 diabetes, heart attack and prostate cancer.