The Hope That DNA Testing Will Bring To The Masses

 The Hope That DNA Testing Will Bring To The Masses

I.B.M. declared in October 2005 that they would not use genetic information for hiring purposes or to determine health insurance coverage. With so many new companies vying for a piece of the DNA testing pie, it seemed like a natural time to make the announcement. While I.B.M. is an active participant in genetics information research, the future of DNA testing may be best described by a single word: Google.

In 2000, Craig Venter and his company, along with the rival U.S. National Institutes of Health, found 30,000 genes in the human genome. This discovery essentially opened a new era of research that will effect many different types of businesses. The founders of the search engine giant have met with Venter. Venter's idea is that "Genetic information is going to be the leading edge of information that is going to change the world." Perhaps the house will play a significant role in this transformation.

Imagine if you could look up details on your unique genetic composition on your computer. When added to the findings of at-home DNA testing, this data could help you figure out what your doctor should know regarding dietary and pharmaceutical therapies.

That time may not be far away after all. Startups are being watched by established corporations like Nestle and Kraft. If they were to enter the market, DNA testing technology would be available to consumers everywhere. What do you get when you combine Google's constant presence with tests that are freely available? "People will be able to log onto a Google site using search capabilities and have the ability to understand things about themselves as they change in real time," says Venter in The Google Story, a book written by David Vise and Mark Malseed, who are science writers for the Washington Post. This variation in a gene—what does it mean?

The top-tier setup

Perhaps this is the best health care system ever. There is constant bragging about how people can cut expenditures on health care by just changing their food and way of living. The results of implementing such a transformation throughout a community would be shocking. Due to its high price tag, lack of widespread availability, and ethical concerns, DNA testing is still in its early stages as a practical tool for the general public. Nonetheless, these issues will inevitably be resolved by the demand generated by an educated populace.

To begin, there is substantial and growing evidence that certain diseases and disorders may be influenced by interactions between genes and nutrients. A genetic variant, or polymorphism, was linked to milk intolerance, decreased milk calcium consumption, and decreased hip and spine bone mass density in a 2004 study conducted at the Karl-Franzes University Hospital in Graz, Austria. The research found that people at risk for osteoporosis and bone fractures might be identified using DNA testing.

University of Michigan research titled "Strategies for Prevention of Colorectal Cancer: Pharmaceutical and nutritional Interventions" suggests that people at risk for colorectal cancer might benefit from dietary changes or supplements. The term "individual" is crucial to both investigations. Making dietary and supplemental modifications without first learning one's genetic makeup is like firing a shotgun: you take a huge dose in the hopes of striking anything. If this haphazard method were replaced with a logical system, the potential for healthcare would be astounding. One DNA testing service claims to look at a client's variations in 19 genes related to things like antioxidant capacity, heart and bone health, insulin sensitivity, and tissue repair. In order to provide recommendations for better health, it integrates the results with data on lifestyle choices.

Lack of fitness

With the social and economic costs of disease being so high, many view DNA testing as a cheap means to enhance the well-being of vast portions of the world. When seen through the lens of the world's already-strained health care system, DNA testing presents an attractive opportunity to intervene early in the course of many diseases, therefore reducing treatment expenses. As an illustration, almost 300 million individuals are overweight. The monetary toll of premature mortality and associated diseases is astronomical. Researchers in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania's Robert Wood Johnson Health and Society Scholars Program found that people whose genes were associated with a higher risk of obesity made good behavioral changes.

There is still a lot to learn about diseases caused by numerous genes in the field of nutrigenomics, but what little is known indicates toward a revolution in health maintenance. "The food you eat may change your genes for life." That's the title of an article stating the findings of a study that was published in the November 17, 2005, issue of New Scientist. Researchers at Montreal's McGill University infused the rats' brains with L-methionine, a common amino acid. The rats' behavior changed for the worse as a result. "Food has a dramatic effect, but it can go both ways," Moshe Szyf, a researcher at McGill, observed after seeing that a substance known as TSA can have the reverse effect, improving the behavior of rats.

DNA testing has sparked debate in the UK, where a government survey examined public sentiment on preimplantation genetic diagnosis of embryos. According to an article published last fall in BMJ, Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority chairperson Suzi Leather stated that the survey is an effort to begin establishing a consensus on the matter. The United Kingdom is confronted with the same problem that is plaguing the medical field: technology has outpaced social values.

Thanks to recent scientific breakthroughs, embryos may now be tested for so-called low penetrance genes, which are ones in which the resulting disease does not manifest in 100% of inherited cases. Hereditary cancers of the breast, ovaries, and colon (including non-polyposis varieties) are all part of this category. The moral dilemma here is whether or whether it's reasonable to screen for these diseases, which could manifest or not, in the hopes of eradicating their transmission. The British study also asks respondents to weigh in on the morality of gene testing in cases where the resulting illness doesn't manifest until later in life or where treatment is an option.

Accuracy

On the one hand, it's not hard to imagine a future where genetic diseases don't exist, thanks to technological progress and the widespread use of embryo screening throughout many generations. Unfortunately, there is currently no way around the moral conundrum of killing millions of embryos. We still don't fully understand the relative contributions of genes and the environment, and there are concerns over the reliability and accuracy of these tests compared to other predictive metrics. In order for DNA tests to be useful in clinical management of cardiovascular disease (CVD), they must have predictive power beyond what can be measured easily, typically inexpensively, and with high reproducibility and replicability. This was stated in an online article titled "Genetic Testing for Cardiovascular Disease Susceptibility" published in the journal Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology on January 8, 2004.

The establishment is notoriously sluggish to adopt new ideas, as is always the case. The newly available DNA testing have the potential to improve technology and spark discussions that lead to answers to the ethical problems.

Much remains unclear regarding the potential applications of DNA testing in healthcare, such as adjusting dietary habits in response to an individual's illness susceptibility. Based on your genetic code, the promise is that one day you might be able to eat your way to health. Still, we have a long way to go, and there are many unknown turns along the way, so we are certainly not there yet. Is this the correct path, though?

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