Hereditary diseases are diseases which are passed from generation to generation through their genes. For a long time now research scientists have been working hard to pin point what the cause of some hereditary diseases are. A recent study has found twenty-five genes believed to cause seven of the most common hereditary diseases. These seven diseases include the likes of heart disease, hypertension, types 1 and 2 diabetes, Crohn's disease, bipolar disorder and rheumatoid arthritis. The study was published in the scientific journal nature. Further studies have shown that another fifty-eight genes may have possible links to the same seven diseases.
The studies were run by Australian and British scientists funded by the Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium. The study used approximately 19000 British people and looked at over 540000 varying DNA sequencing between each person. This study was ten times larger than any previous study in the same field.
The possibilities from now knowing which genes are related to which diseases are now much greater. We can now use genetic markers rather than family history to discover if a person has the predisposition to the disease. Using genetic markers is a far more accurate way than using family history. If we only used family history we would not be able to tell which genes are causing the disease and this would mean that there would be no way of understanding the mechanisms by which the disease occurs. The next step in the research is finding which genes are related to diseases such as breast cancer, multiple sclerosis, autoimmune thyroid disease and ankylosing spondylitis.
Reference:
University of Queensland, ‘Gene recipe for common diseases.’ 7 June 2007, 12 May 2009.
(http://www.uq.edu.au/news/?article=12248)
University of Queensland, ‘Gene recipe for common diseases.’ 7 June 2007, 12 May 2009.
(http://www.uq.edu.au/news/?article=12248)
