Genetic Perfidy

If anyone understands the significance (if any) of this, please lend me a clue.

-- Lars (larsguy@yahoo.com), July 14, 2001

Answers

Thursday July 12, 2001 Yahoo

Huge Genetic Variation Found in Human Beings

By Will Dunham

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The notion of a uniform genetic blueprint for human beings took a tumble on Thursday, as the most detailed examination yet of variations in the genetic makeup of people detected unexpectedly large individual differences.

Researchers with Genaissance Pharmaceuticals Inc. of New Haven, Connecticut, found astonishing variance at the genetic level in 82 unrelated people primarily from four racial backgrounds -- white, black, Asian and Hispanic.

In studying 313 genes -- out of the 30,000 identified by human genome scientists -- the Genaissance researchers found that for each gene, there actually are on average 14 versions that can be inherited by a given person from parents.

The researchers said their findings should cause scientists to rethink the definition of the human genome, or genetic map.

``We've looked at the largest number of individuals and diverse populations that's ever been done,'' said Gerald Vovis, Genaissance chief technology officer and senior vice president and an author of the study appearing in the journal Science.

``The most surprising finding that came out of here was the fact that we found an enormous amount of variation within these genes which had not been known before,'' Vovis said in an interview.

Vovis said the genetic differences may help explain why people respond differently to various medications. Whether a patient possesses a certain version of a given gene could determine whether a particular drug would be beneficial, do nothing or even harm the patient, the researchers said.

The hope is to be able to harness the knowledge of an individual's unique genetic makeup in order to tailor disease treatments to that specific person, Vovis added.

PRIVACY CONCERNS

Vovis said he foresaw a day when patients would provide a blood sample to their doctor to allow for a genetic examination that could guide treatment decisions. He acknowledged some patients might fear this private genetic information could be misused or exploited.

``We have concerns about it,'' Vovis said. ``We are very well aware of the fact that in order for people to take benefit from this, they are going to have to feel that their genetic information is being treated in a confidential manner.''

Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Human Genome Research Institute, part of the U.S. government's National Institutes of Health (news - web sites), told Reuters the study adds ``considerable optimism'' to using a gene-variation strategy to find hereditary contributions to diseases.

``We have been talking a lot about how similar all of our genomes are, that we're 99.9 percent the same. That might tend to create an impression that it's a very static situation. But that 0.1 percent is still an awful lot of nucleotides (genetic building blocks),'' Collins added.

The scientists who in February unveiled the sequencing of the entire human genome -- a human being's complete allotment of genes -- said it took 30,000 genes to make a person.

HALF MILLION GENE VARIATIONS

Genaissance researcher J. Claiborne Stephens, lead author of the new study, said if that is accurate then ``the functional complement of the human genome is going to be a repertoire of something like 400,000 to 500,000 gene versions.''

The researchers studied the genetic makeup of 21 whites, 20 blacks, 20 people of Asian descent, 18 Latinos and three American Indians. The groups proved to have a certain degree of genetic idiosyncrasies, likely because their ancestors had a common history in a geographical region over thousands of years, whether in Africa, Asia, Europe or the Americas.

The two groups that shared the highest number of rare genetic variants with one another were the blacks and Latinos. The Asians shared comparatively little with the other groups.

``What we didn't see was any variation that really defined what might be considered to be an ethnic group,'' Vovis said. ''What we did see, however, was that different versions of a gene may be present at higher frequencies in one group of a geographical origin over another.''

Vovis said Genaissance has conducted a clinical trial showing how genetic differences between people affect the effectiveness of a certain drug used to treat asthma, and launched another trial in April involving medication used to control high blood cholesterol levels.

-- Lars (larsguy@yahoo.com), July 14, 2001.

2084

Every human being will be genetically fingerprinted

-- (George Orwell Jr @ Libertarian.dirge), July 14, 2001.

Lars,

Here is a clue. What it MEANS is that no matter what happens, people are going to have the same tunnel vision that they always had!

Notice that the slant is all about making DRUGS to treat diseases, figuring out what DRUGS will do to you based on your genetic makeup, after you already HAVE heart disease, asthma, diabetes, etc.

Not a word about ways of PREVENTING disease using things like determining differing dietary requirements inferred from genetic individuality, lab testing for nutritional deficiencies/excesses, asymptomatic dysfunctions that are precursors to disease, etc. (which we ALREADY could be doing... Just because it is a little fuzzier scientifically and isn't quite as blatant a profit center, doesn't mean it couldn't be done.)

No, just follow the money!

-- Debbie (dbspence@usa.net), July 14, 2001.