Wukong recognizes the benefits of decoding human genes

The project of the human genome (HGP) has entered its 11th year, but some scientists believe that many researchers and journalists have misconceptions about the genetic arrangement work.

>>>Decoding Vietnamese genes to improve the race

According to a commentary published in the journal Science, many people look excessively on the role of this field in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases.

Some points in the commentary can be summarized by the following contents:

Don't expect too much that decoding genes will
Help diagnose the risk of disease.(Source: Discovery)

• Using a person's genome to assess the risk of a certain disease is too complicated. The authors cite Crohn's disease, for example, that almost every 1,000 Americans are at risk. What does it mean if one sees that their risk is 1/500 or 1/2000? These rates cannot help patients or doctors make any meaningful decisions.

• For many diseases, not only one gene and many genes play the same role. The genes are not constant and can be influenced by many internal and external factors. Human health is a complex mechanism, so understanding it is not simple.

• Changing people's habits is even more difficult. If the patient knows that they are at a lower risk of getting a disease, they will have wrong thoughts about their health, and from there it is likely they will act recklessly because they think they are not at risk. ill.

• Researchers also object to some companies such as 23andMe and Pathway Genomics advertising that can use gene technology to diagnose the risk.

According to the authors, not all genetic knowledge can be explained thoroughly, so more powerful diagnostic tools are needed to perform this task in the future.