How Is Genomics Being Used to Classify Disease?
In this video, Eric Green, MD, Director of the National Human Genome Research Institute, explains how analyzing patterns of DNA may help classify disease.
Transcript
Too often the way we classify diseases is based on what tools we have, right? Where the tumor was, what it looked like under a microscope.
In the case of hypertension, what the pattern of the hypertension was when you measured. Or in diabetes what some blood values were.
And we know that underneath all of these broad categories of disease are many subtypes. And we need a new taxonomy to subclassify.
One vehicle, it's not the only vehicle, but one new vehicle for subclassifying disease is looking at the patterns of DNA,
either the DNA in the tumor, or in the case of diseases like hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular disease,
just looking at the DNA that you carry around in all your cells. Because there are differences in your DNA, in my DNA,
that make us more or less risk for getting diseases like hypertension, diabetes, and so forth.
genetic disorders birth defects
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