Arvind Suresh
“Unlocking genetics to improve health,” ran the all-too-familiar headline of a recent news story aired by a local TV station in Ohio.
The story began thus: Patty Adams, a long-haul truck driver, was suffering from wet macular degeneration (“wet MD”), a debilitating chronic eye disease that causes patients to have blurring or loss of vision over time. The treatment required her to receive monthly injections in the eye to slow the progression of the disease. These injections, according to the Mayo Clinic, are considered to be the standard first line of treatment. Patty however, sought an alternative, and found xRMD, a company that promised to solve her problem through “epigenetic testing.” What followed sounded more like a promotional segment than a news report ........The field of epigenetics deals with modifications to DNA that do not involve a change in its sequence (changes to the sequence are mutations). It addresses how those changes can alter the expression of genes, proteins and, in turn, cellular function. Though we know that epigenetics plays an important role in health and disease, relatively little is known about the mechanisms involved and how we can control them. In this case, understanding the state of the field would have made it clear that any bold health claims should be treated with considerable skepticism.......To Read More
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