Consulting the source code: prospects for gene‐based medical diagnostics

• Published in: Journal of internal medicine Vol. 248; no. 4; pp. 271 - 276
• Main Author: Landegren, U.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Science Ltd 01.10.2000; Blackwell Science; Blackwell Publishing Ltd
• Subjects: Biological and medical sciences; DNA amplification; Ethics; Ethics, Medical; gene diagnostics; gene ethics; genetic prediction; Genetic Techniques - trends; Genetic Testing - methods; Genetic Testing - trends; Genetics, Medical - methods; Genetics, Medical - trends; Genome, Human; Humans; Medical sciences; mutation detection; Human; Medicine; Ethics; Gene amplification; Genetics; Diagnosis; Mutation; Medical screening; Genetic disease
• ISSN: 0954-6820; 1365-2796
• DOI: 10.1046/j.1365-2796.2000.00753.x

. Landegren U (Rudbeck Laboratory, Uppsala, Sweden) Gene‐based diagnostics (Internal Medicine in the 21st Century). J Intern Med 2000; 248: 271–276. Gene‐based diagnostics has been slow to enter medical routine practice in a grand way, but it is now spurred on by three important developments: the total genetic informational content of humans and most of our pathogens is rapidly becoming available; a very large number of genetic factors of diagnostic value in disease are being identified; and such factors include the identity of genes frequently targeted by mutations in specific diseases, common DNA sequence variants associated with disease or responses to therapy, and copy number alterations at the level of DNA or RNA that are characteristic of specific diseases. Finally, improved methodology for genetic analysis now brings all of these genetic factors within reach in clinical practice. The increasing opportunities for genetic diagnostics may gradually influence views on health and normality, and on the genetic plasticity of human beings, provoking discussions about some of the central attributes of genetics.