EPIGENETICS, CANCER & MENTAL ILLNESS: LIKE SWITCHES AND HOUSE LIGHTS?
You may never have heard the word "epigenetics" though it describes a process which has been with you since your conception. The genes, you inherited from generations of ancestors, which now make you the individual you are, are turned on and off by chemical switches in your body. Cancers and other conditions may be caused by genes which are switched on and off by those chemical switches. And now, we have learned that even mental illness may be related to chemical switches which are activated, or inactivated, causing genes to produce proteins which produce normal growth and development, or produce serious disease.
Epigenetics is the science underlying those switches and their roles in causing appropriate development and disease. Scientific/medical breakthroughs may flow from an understanding of epigenetics and the development of tools which can turn some genes on and some genes off, fostering normal development or treating disease. I have attended American Society of Hematology conferences in which German researchers reported their use of epigenetic techniques to treat lymphomas, which are cancers of the lymphatic system.
A National Institutes of Health release tracks gene regulation in the brain's executive hub across the lifespan and reports that mental illness suspect genes are among the most environmentally responsive. Perhaps some of our political figures should pay more attention to environmental issues - which play potent roles in causing disease, aggravating our national deficit because of escalating health care costs, and bringing misery to Americans subjected to potent toxins in our air, water, food and environment.
You may never have heard the word "epigenetics" though it describes a process which has been with you since your conception. The genes, you inherited from generations of ancestors, which now make you the individual you are, are turned on and off by chemical switches in your body. Cancers and other conditions may be caused by genes which are switched on and off by those chemical switches. And now, we have learned that even mental illness may be related to chemical switches which are activated, or inactivated, causing genes to produce proteins which produce normal growth and development, or produce serious disease.
Epigenetics is the science underlying those switches and their roles in causing appropriate development and disease. Scientific/medical breakthroughs may flow from an understanding of epigenetics and the development of tools which can turn some genes on and some genes off, fostering normal development or treating disease. I have attended American Society of Hematology conferences in which German researchers reported their use of epigenetic techniques to treat lymphomas, which are cancers of the lymphatic system.
A National Institutes of Health release tracks gene regulation in the brain's executive hub across the lifespan and reports that mental illness suspect genes are among the most environmentally responsive. Perhaps some of our political figures should pay more attention to environmental issues - which play potent roles in causing disease, aggravating our national deficit because of escalating health care costs, and bringing misery to Americans subjected to potent toxins in our air, water, food and environment.
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