Genes involved in the composition of human ear wax

2002/06/10 Elhuyar Zientzia

• Biologia

Nagasaki Medical School (Japan) researcher, Norio Niikawa, and San Francisco epidemiologist, Nicholas Petraskis, are closely studying the genes involved in the composition of human ear wax. The wax of the human ears is formed by the apocrine glands. But depending on the climate of the area in which we live, there are more or less apocrine glands, whose quantity influences the composition of the wax.

The inhabitants of Caucasus and Africa, for example, have lighter wax (more liquid) than Asians or Americans. In addition, excess apocrine tissue can produce cysts around the ear, being very common for these cysts to cause breast cancer to many women.