NEW YORK, March 15 (Xinhua) -- U.S. researchers said on Sunday they had identified an inherited gene mutation that may be responsible for certain blood diseases such as myeloproliferative neoplasms.

    The research, published online in the British journal Nature Genetics, found that the inherited alteration in the JAK2 gene is common in patients who suffered from the overproduction of several types of blood cells.

    "Importantly, patients who inherited this JAK2 alteration were predisposed to acquiring another JAK2 mutation on the same DNA strand," the researchers at the New York-based Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center said in a statement.

    "These mutations do not arise randomly, but are specifically determined by the DNA sequence," they said.

    According to the researchers, their findings partly explain the predisposition for acquiring mutations in certain disease-specific genes and may help explain why some individuals are at higher risk in developing the disease.