03/12/2024

Disparities

From the article: "In March 2023, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) released a consensus study report titled Using Population Descriptors in Genetics and Genomics Research.The report is more than a discussion of the use of terminology; the authors of the NASEM report suggest a tectonic shift away from current models that use race, ethnicity, and geographic origin as proxies for genetic ancestry groups (ie, a set of individuals who share more similar genetic ancestries) in genetic and genomic science. The recommendations are rooted in evidence that genetic variation in individuals falls, in general, on a continuum of variation not captured well by existing population descriptors and that the ongoing use of such descriptors as analytical variables jeopardizes the scientific validity of research."

Developmental disabilities

From the abstract: "Intellectual disability (ID) is a common disorder, yet there is a wide spectrum of impairment from mild to profoundly affected individuals. Mild ID is seen as the low extreme of the general distribution of intelligence, while severe ID is often seen as a monogenic disorder caused by rare, pathogenic, highly penetrant variants. To investigate the genetic factors influencing mild and severe ID, we evaluated rare and common variation in the Northern Finland Intellectual Disability cohort (n?=?1096 ID patients). Overall, we report evidence for the additivity of rare and common variant burden throughout the spectrum of intellectual disability. "

Pharmacogenomics

From the abstract: "This review seeks to highlight the genetic, environmental and clinical factors associated with variability in anticoagulant response, and review the current evidence base for tailoring the drug, dose, and/or monitoring decisions to identified patient subgroups to improve anticoagulant safety. Areas that would benefit from further research are also identified. Validated variants in VKORC1, CYP2C9 and CYP4F2 constitute biomarkers for differential warfarin response and genotype-informed warfarin dosing has been shown to reduce adverse clinical events. "

Childhood cancer

From the abstract: "Survivors of childhood cancer are at increased risk for subsequent cancers attributable to the late effects of radiotherapy and other treatment exposures; thus, further understanding of the impact of genetic predisposition on risk is needed. Combining genotype data for 11,220 5-year survivors from the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study and the St Jude Lifetime Cohort, we found that cancer-specific polygenic risk scores (PRSs) derived from general population, genome-wide association study, cancer loci identified survivors of European ancestry at increased risk of subsequent basal cell carcinoma (odds ratio per s.d. of the PRS: OR?=?1.37, 95% confidence interval (CI)?=?1.29–1.46), female breast cancer (OR?=?1.42, 95% CI?=?1.27–1.58), thyroid cancer (OR?=?1.48, 95% CI?=?1.31–1.67), squamous cell carcinoma (OR?=?1.20, 95% CI?=?1.00–1.44) and melanoma (OR?=?1.60, 95% CI?=?1.31–1.96) "