First genetic causes of Raynaud's phenomenon discovered

Two to five percent of all people are affected by Raynaud's phenomenon: In cold or stressful conditions, the small blood vessels that supply the skin constrict and the fingers or toes turn white. First described by Maurice Raynaud in 1862, scientists from the Berlin Institute of Health at the Charité (BIH), together with colleagues from the United Kingdom, have only now discovered a common genetic causes of the disease and published it in the journal Nature Communications.