Hardly a week goes by without the announcement of a scientific breakthrough in genomic medicine. The 6 March issue of the New England Journal details how human cells can be genetically modified to make them resistant to the virus that causes AIDS. A week earlier, the same journal had published a finding that testing foetal DNA from a pregnant woman's blood was a more accurate and less intrusive way of detecting Down's syndrome and other chromosomal abnormalities than methods such as ultrasound and blood tests.
Cancer, an essentially genomic disease
Genome analysis is already being used to guide the treatment of brain and breast cancers. Eric Green, director of the US National Human Genome Research Institute, explains that cancer is essentially a genomic disease. "Instead of classifying cancers by the tissue where they were first detected - colon, breast or brain - doctors are beginning to classify cancers by their genomic characteristics and select treatments based on the authorship of different mutations. This approach promises to treat patients with the most effective drugs and minimise undesirable side effects, especially when chemotherapy is unlikely to help.
Green says the end of the Human Genome Project was the starting point on the road to genomic medicine. At first, a decade ago, scientists focused on using DNA sequencing and computational technologies to interpret the genome and understand its biology. Now they are using them to improve diagnostics, medicines and clinical practice. Before long, doctors will tailor the treatment of many diseases on the basis of an individual's genomic information.
The first triumphs of genomic medicine are being seen with rare inherited diseases.
We may be predisposed to certain diseases because of our genes, but it is not only our genes that determine our health. It is also our lifestyle, habits and environment. This can cause genes to be switched on and off and even altered. Much also remains to be known about what was once called "junk DNA" and about the microbiome - an ecosystem of micro-organisms living in and on the human body. So much more information and much more research and analysis is needed.
Progress in other technologies will help advance genomic medicine
The good news is that other technologies are progressing rapidly which will facilitate this research. With the cost of genome sequencing dropping to affordable levelsgenome data soon to be available for millions of people. Additionally, the smartphones we carry are capturing information about our lifestyle and habits, location and activity levels. Wearable medical devices, which many companies are developing, will record our vital signs such as temperature, blood oxygenation and heart rate. When you combine this data, you get the ability to quickly analyse the correlation between our genome, our habits and our disease - exactly what is needed to develop individualised treatments.
This means that medicine will in a few years start to advance at the same pace as the internet and software, which will see a real revolution in health care.
However, the basic research that led to genome sequencing and the internet itself needs to be maintained. These technologies often take decades to bear fruit and there are disappointments and failures along the way. There is still much research to be done in the field of genomic medicine. We are on the road to ridding humanity of many diseases. It is time to double the investment, not walk away from it.
Source: GulfNews.com
