How Genetics research will Transform Medicine

The expansion of knowledge about the genetic cause of diseases will lead us to a stage when physicians prevent more illness than they treat. For example - at least 9 of the 10 leading causes of death in the US, genetic factors play a role.

In less than 10 years, physicians will be able to prevent heart disease, diabetes, and cancer--diseases that affect millions of people.

Within a few years, it may be possible to collect patients' DNA from cells taken from inside the cheek and put that sample on a microchip, where it will be analyzed for the 50 most common genetic variations that predispose people to various diseases. Such technology would make traditional ways of questioning patients about family medical histories obsolete.

With genetic information, we can direct patients to the dietary and behavioral changes that prevent these diseases. Also, knowing genetic causes of diseases will help us understand disease processes at a much more basic level.

The Human Genome Project is underway, by which all human DNA should be mapped by 2003. The information gained from this project has to be translated to disease related processes, by which it is useful for health.

This knowledge could lead to population-based screening. Those at risk could then begin preventive therapies before they develop symptoms.

Many patients in the future who aren't sick with any kind of disease would come to a doctor simply because they have a disposition for developing some type of disease. They 'll be advised how they can first recognize symptoms so they can get treatment early or prevent them altogether.

( Leading geneticists shared these developments at the annual meeting of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists.)