Well, This Is Awkward
18/04/12 13:44 Filed in: GenomeWeb Daily Scan
Submitted by S. Pelech - Kinexus on Wed, 04/18/2012 - 13:44.
The tendency of many to use the reductionist view that diseases primarily arise from defects in the genome will ultimately lead to a lot of wasted expense and unnecessary added worry. Genetic tests that claim to evaluate an individual's risk for specific development of the most common diseases are relatively meaningless as they are based on statistics in a general population. Statistics work well for prediction in a large group, but are unreliable when applied to individuals.
Disease arises from a complex interplay of genetic and environmental factors. Cancer is an example of a "molecular intelligence" disease as defects in signal transduction and regulatory proteins usually give rise to mis-communications within cells. If the genetic defects lead to a gain of function, the mutated proteins are potential targets for drug therapy.
Many of the other common disorders, such as diabetes, neurological, immunological and cardiovascular diseases are "cellular intelligence" diseases, in that missing or defective cells result in a loss of normal intercellular communication that is required for bodily functions. Many of these illnesses can benefit from hormonal therapy and may become better treated with stem cell technology in the near future.
Crime, anarchy and war are good examples of "social intelligence" diseases as these arise when an individual or a small fraction of individuals in a group undertake selfish activities that are harmful to the larger group. These activities may result in the production of toxic substances and other damage to the environment, loss of food, water and sanitation, as well as psychological stress that adversely affects other individuals in the group.
The development of personalized medicine will be greatly facilitated by the availability of genome sequence data as well as proteomics and metabolome information that tracks the actual expression and post-translational modification of proteins and their metabolic products. However, it will also have to factor in a myriad of other parameters that include the body state, history and present environment of patients. While this is going to be expensive and challenging, there is a more simple and effective solution. Individuals should just be more proactive before they acquire a disease by avoiding harmful behaviours and having a balanced life style that includes a healthy diet, exercise, reasonable sleep and a positive attitude.
Link to the original blog post
The tendency of many to use the reductionist view that diseases primarily arise from defects in the genome will ultimately lead to a lot of wasted expense and unnecessary added worry. Genetic tests that claim to evaluate an individual's risk for specific development of the most common diseases are relatively meaningless as they are based on statistics in a general population. Statistics work well for prediction in a large group, but are unreliable when applied to individuals.
Disease arises from a complex interplay of genetic and environmental factors. Cancer is an example of a "molecular intelligence" disease as defects in signal transduction and regulatory proteins usually give rise to mis-communications within cells. If the genetic defects lead to a gain of function, the mutated proteins are potential targets for drug therapy.
Many of the other common disorders, such as diabetes, neurological, immunological and cardiovascular diseases are "cellular intelligence" diseases, in that missing or defective cells result in a loss of normal intercellular communication that is required for bodily functions. Many of these illnesses can benefit from hormonal therapy and may become better treated with stem cell technology in the near future.
Crime, anarchy and war are good examples of "social intelligence" diseases as these arise when an individual or a small fraction of individuals in a group undertake selfish activities that are harmful to the larger group. These activities may result in the production of toxic substances and other damage to the environment, loss of food, water and sanitation, as well as psychological stress that adversely affects other individuals in the group.
The development of personalized medicine will be greatly facilitated by the availability of genome sequence data as well as proteomics and metabolome information that tracks the actual expression and post-translational modification of proteins and their metabolic products. However, it will also have to factor in a myriad of other parameters that include the body state, history and present environment of patients. While this is going to be expensive and challenging, there is a more simple and effective solution. Individuals should just be more proactive before they acquire a disease by avoiding harmful behaviours and having a balanced life style that includes a healthy diet, exercise, reasonable sleep and a positive attitude.
Link to the original blog post