Omics : a journal of integrative biology
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Mental disorders represent a major public health burden worldwide. This is likely to rise in the next decade, with the highest increases predicted to occur in low- and middle-income countries. Current psychotropic medication treatment guidelines focus on uniform approaches to the treatment of heterogeneous disorders and achieve only partial therapeutic success. ⋯ Multipronged approaches such as multi-omics (genomics, proteomics, metabolomics) analyses and systems diagnostics together with high-throughput sequencing and genotyping technologies hold promise for identifying precise and targeted treatments in mental disorders. To date, however, the vast majority of pharmacogenomics work has been undertaken in high-income countries on a relatively small proportion of the global population, and many other challenges face the field. Opportunities and challenges for establishing a global roadmap for precision medicine in psychiatry are discussed in this article.
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Mitochondrial toxicity is a major concern related to nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors. Common manifestations are peripheral neuropathy and lipodystrophy. Depletion of mitochondria has been associated with mitochondrial dysfunction. ⋯ The median mtDNA/nDNA ratio of patients in subhaplogroup L0a2 was much lower (0.62 vs. 8.50, p=0.01) than that of those in subhaplogroup L2a. Our data indicate that peripheral blood mtDNA/nDNA ratio is a marker of mitochondrial toxicities of stavudine and is associated with elevated lactate levels and mtDNA subhaplogroups. This could open the prospect to select a substantial group of patients who will not have problematic side effects from stavudine, an affordable and effective antiretroviral drug that is being phased out in Africa due to its toxicity.
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Science journalism is a previously neglected but rapidly growing area of scholarship in postgenomics medicine and socio-technical studies of knowledge-based innovations. Science journalism can help evaluate the quantity and quality of information flux between traditional scientific expert communities and the broader public, for example, in personalized medicine education. Newspapers can play a crucial role in science and health communication, and more importantly, in framing public engagement. ⋯ This study reports on the under-representation of newspaper coverage of genomics medicine in China, despite the vast growth of scientific articles in journals in this knowledge domain. This underscores the need to enhance collaboration between scientists, medical professionals, and journalists as an important strand of overall communications efforts in disseminating genomic medicine knowledge to larger audiences. Yet a substantive question remains to be examined: would traditional journalism, alone, be adequate to address the advances and challenges in genomics medicine in the media? Conversely, should we invest in science journalism programs as a subspecialty in biomedicine so scientists and clinicians acquire the twin scholarship of science/clinical medicine and journalism in their formative education?
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Biography Historical Article
Bernard Lerer: recipient of the 2014 inaugural Werner Kalow Responsible Innovation Prize in Global Omics and Personalized Medicine (Pacific Rim Association for Clinical Pharmacogenetics).
This article announces the recipient of the 2014 inaugural Werner Kalow Responsible Innovation Prize in Global Omics and Personalized Medicine by the Pacific Rim Association for Clinical Pharmacogenetics (PRACP): Bernard Lerer, professor of psychiatry and director of the Biological Psychiatry Laboratory, Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical Center, Jerusalem, Israel. The Werner Kalow Responsible Innovation Prize is given to an exceptional interdisciplinary scholar who has made highly innovative and enduring contributions to global omics science and personalized medicine, with both vertical and horizontal (transdisciplinary) impacts. The prize is established in memory of a beloved colleague, mentor, and friend, the late Professor Werner Kalow, who cultivated the idea and practice of pharmacogenetics in modern therapeutics commencing in the 1950s. ⋯ A new call is presently in place for the 2016 PRACP Werner Kalow prize. Nominations can be made in support of an exceptional individual interdisciplinary scholar, or alternatively, an entire research team, from any region in the world with a record of highly innovative contributions to global omics science and/or personalized medicine, in the spirit of responsible innovation. The application process is straightforward, requiring a signed, 1500-word nomination letter (by the applicant or sponsor) submitted not later than May 31, 2015.
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Interleukin-16 (IL-16) is a multifunctional cytokine that has been associated with autoimmune and allergic diseases. To investigate comprehensively whether IL-16 is also associated with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and emphysema, we performed an integrated analysis of multiple "omics" data. Over 500 subjects participating in the COPDGene® study donated blood and were clinically characterized and genetically profiled. ⋯ Whole-genome expression quantitative trait locus (eQTL) analysis identified a novel IL-16 missense SNP (rs11556218) associated with lower IL-16 in plasma. In summary, an integrated "omics" analysis in a very large cohort identified an association between decreased IL-16 and emphysema and discovered a novel IL-16 cis-eQTL. Thus IL-16 plasma levels and IL-16 genotyping may be useful in a personalized medicine approach for lung disease.