Recruits from the Methuen Police Academy at Northern Essex Community College (NECC) participated in the 2022 Steps2Cure NF Walk and Fun Run in Wakefield, MA.
Steps2Cure NF events were held throughout the month of May and into June.
May is NF Awareness month and NF Northeast featured many activities from the Steps2Cure NF events highlighting facts about NF and allied diseases, to conducting social media contests for following us on Facebook.
May 17 was NF1 Awareness Day due to the significance of the 17th chromosome in patients with NF1. The gene for NF1 is located on chromosome 17. The NF1 gene makes a protein called neurofibromin, which regulates cell division in the nervous system and functions as a GTPase-activating protein that negatively regulates RAS/MAPK pathway activity by accelerating the hydrolysis of Ras-bound GTP. NF1 has a high mutation rate and mutations in NF1 can alter cellular growth control and neural development.
May 22nd was highlighted, as the NF2 gene is caused by a mutation in the 22nd chromosome. There are 693 genes on chromosome 22. The condition of NF2 results in improper function of the Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR) Pathway.
We marked May 23 as Schwannomatosis Awareness Day. Schwannomatosis is located on chromosome 22 a short distance from the NF2 gene. However, molecular analysis of the NF2 gene in schwannomatosis patients has shown the presence of inactivating mutations in the tumor cells, but no evidence of the germline mutations that are found in NF2 patients.