Encouraging News about Medical Genetics

Polly · Post by **Polly** » Thu Apr 09, 2015 7:24 am

Hi All,

A few months ago President Obama announced a major federal research initiative to develop medical treatments to fit the genetic characterisitics of individuals. This new field is called "personalized" or "precision" medicine. The project will analyze genetic data from one million Americans and support research efforts at the NIH and other labs. The goal is to find out which treatments will work best for which people.

This is exactly what we have been discussing on the Forum and hoping for! It is interesting that this effort is coming from the highest level of Gov't. (Actually, IMHO the President seems to have an impressive understanding of science ((and scientific priorities)) - he regularly consults with and has hired some of the top scientists in the country).

We have often lamented here the fact that current medical treatments are based upon large clinical trials and observational studies, which, of course, do not reflect the situation of every participant. An example of these studies: we have learned that if 1000 people with no history of cardiovascular disease take low-dose aspirin for a year, it will prevent a heart attack in one of them. However, it will cause serious stomach bleeding in 2 of them. At present we can't determine which people won't respond or would have adverse effects. But genetic testing could differentiate. Another example: studies show that a low sodium diet can reduce blood pressure over a large population, but only about 25% of people are sodium sensitive and need to restrict it. Again, genes could tell us which people to target.

Of course, it will take a while, but I say "good riddance to one-size-fits-all medicine"!

Polly

Hopeful · Post by **Hopeful** » Thu Apr 09, 2015 8:35 am

I heard a report of this on the news. It would be interesting to be one of the million participants - useful information!
Chris

Post by **tex** » Thu Apr 09, 2015 9:03 am

Polly wrote:Of course, it will take a while, but I say "good riddance to one-size-fits-all medicine"!

Amen to that. Now if only someone would do something to stop all the drug-pushing TV ads that end with, "Ask your doctor if (this drug) is right for you". The correct answer is virtually always "No!", but unfortunately doctors feel obligated to discuss the drugs and prescribe them if the patient is interested, and as a result all these unnecessary drug sales cost this country billions of dollars every year. Legal drug-pushing should not be legal, IMO.

Tex

Polly · Post by **Polly** » Thu Apr 09, 2015 9:56 am

Tex,

I couldn't agree with you more. BTW, physicians have always been opposed to the drug-pushing TV ads.....they are definitely counter-productive. Most responsible docs would not prescribe an inappropriate med. just because a patient requested it, but you are right, it does waste valuable time having to explain why, for example, a heavy-duty anti-psychotic drug is not needed for everyday stress.

One very positive aspect of this new federal initiative......at least there will be major funding for research that is not just coming from the pharmaceutical industry.

Polly

Post by **tex** » Thu Apr 09, 2015 11:39 am

Polly wrote:at least there will be major funding for research that is not just coming from the pharmaceutical industry.

I agree that has to truly be a huge plus. Hopefully this initiative will redefine the future of medicine.

Tex

Blueberry · Post by **Blueberry** » Thu Apr 09, 2015 2:02 pm

I hope something or maybe better said, many good sometimes come from the new genetic study work. That would be wonderful. I do sometimes fear though that saying our problems are caused by faulty genes can be at times over emphasized.

I guess as one example I ran across recently on that - I've been interested in learning more about cancer treatment ideas. Around a decade ago I recall seeing articles mentioning that genetic research being started then was going to lead to a solution to many cancers in the near future. Ran across this article that the author gives his option on the findings so far discovered, which doesn't appear great.

"What Is The Origin of Cancer?"

http://robbwolf.com/2013/09/19/origin-cancer/

JFR · Post by **JFR** » Thu Apr 09, 2015 3:14 pm

Here's a great talk by Dr Seyfried about cancer as a metabolic disease:

http://thequantifiedbody.net/cancer-as- ... -seyfried/

And the book by Travis Cristofferson, the author of the article in Blueberry's link:

http://www.amazon.com/Tripping-Over-Tru ... stofferson

I just bought the book a few days ago.

I agree that genetic research is important but its importance can be overstated. It needs to be combined with research into the environmental factors that trigger genes, which includes foods and toxins.

Betsbrooks · Post by **Betsbrooks** » Thu Apr 09, 2015 3:47 pm

Thanks for that fascinating article on cancer research! The idea of fighting cancer with a ketogenic diet is very interesting.

Zizzle · Post by **Zizzle** » Mon Apr 20, 2015 8:35 am

I'm buying more and more into the microbiome as the cause of disease or disease susceptibility (along with genetics and environment). We literally have gut bacteria that are on the verge of extinction. People with IBDs are known to be missing specific gut bacteria, although we haven't figured out how to replace them yet. Any true personalized medicine will need to take microbiome factors into account.