Genetic medicine new cancer killer
(China Daily)
Updated: 2004-07-28 08:37

Over the past 50 years, the world has seen tremendous advances in genetic technology, and it has been called the medical technology of the 21st century.

"The importance of these advances to medicine is analogous to the importance of microchips to computers," said Andrew Chen, a researcher from the Unites States' Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, at the 10th International Symposium of the Society of Chinese Bioscientists in the United States, which was held in Beijing last week.

These advances in genetic technology will increase the understanding of human genes and their contribution to diseases, Chen said.

Exciting new techniques of genomics are beginning to influence the practice of medicine, most notably in the diagnosis of various forms of cancer.

"It has become increasingly evident that cancer is a genetic disease resulting from, or an accumulation of, inherited and environmentally induced changes or mutations in the genome," said Chen Zhong, a researcher from the medical genetics division of the Department of Pediatrics with the University of Utah School of Medicine.

Cancer genetics has, therefore, become a burgeoning area in both genetic research and practical clinical applications in treating human cancer.

For most cancer patients, at the time of diagnosis the cancer is already at a very advanced stage.

"Although there is a drug that is quite effective in the early stages of ovarian cancer, later on, drug resistance develops," said Nancy Wang, a researcher from the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, who is doing research on ovarian cancer in an attempt to identify the genes associated with the general progression of the cancer.

Her study suggests that chromosome 11 may carry a tumour suppressor gene and have a pathogenic role in ovarian cancer.

"By identifying the gene, we can find some particular genetic markers that may bring about earlier diagnosis," she added.

The gene researchers' interest is not limited to cancer diagnosis; they are also interested in the role of genetics in treating cardiovascular diseases.

Cardiovascular disease is the worldwide leading cause of death. Like most chronic diseases, it has major genetic and environmental components.

Some cardiovascular diseases have proven to be the result of a single gene defect and others relate to more complex aetiologies, or causes, involving several genes and their interactions.

Understanding the causes of congenital heart diseases from the molecular genetic perspective requires DNA testing for cardiac disorders, said Qi Ming, a researcher from the University of Rochester Medical Centre.

According to him, of the 1,055 types of diseases that can be diagnosed using DNA methods, more than 100 types fall into the category of cardiovascular diseases.

"Screening mutations in some genes guarantees better diagnosis and management of patients with congenital heart diseases," said Qi.

Though many patients suffer from cardiovascular diseases nowadays, the genetic pathological causes may be varied.

"Gene testing makes it possible for patients to receive individualized treatment based on their specific gene mutation conditions, thus ultimately decreasing the chances of contracting congenital heart disease and reducing the number of deaths," said Qi.

Gene testing also has a promising future of application among the healthy.

Genetic defect testing can help doctors evaluate risk factors for healthy people and give them valuable advice on how to adjust their living habits. This constitutes a form of early prevention of disease.

"Although it still remains a very challenging field for researchers, undoubtedly, gene testing is the developing trend in medicine," said Qi.

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