Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
regions that regulate the activity of genes in their patients. They use this
information to help design the most effective treatments for disease and
also to prevent disease and improve the overall health of their patients
(Drmanac 2012).
Regenerative medicine.
Another area of human medicine benefiting from
hGP information is
regenerative medicine.
We saw in chapter 2 how stem
cells may someday be used to regenerate diseased and injured tissues. Ge-
nomic information gleaned from the hGP will help identify genes coding
for proteins that direct tissue repair and defend the body against viral and
bacterial invaders. Pharmaceutical researchers can use this information to
develop drugs that enhance the action of these proteins and to produce the
proteins themselves for treating persons recovering from strokes, heart at-
tacks, spinal cord injuries, and diseases like AiDs.
The Epigenome
now that the human genome is deciphered, many genome researchers are
turning their attention to the human
epigenome.
Epi
means “on the outside of.” Thus, the epigenome is a layer of ge-
netic information superimposed over the genome itself; that is, over the
sequence of the A, T, G, and C bases in the DnA. specifically, the epig-
enome consists of patterns of chemical modifications (
epigenetic
factors) to
certain bases in the DnA or on some of the proteins associated with DnA
molecules (fig. 4.1).
10
one science journalist likens the epigenome to “chemical amendments
that dangle like charms on a bracelet from the linear string of letters that
spell out the genetic code.”
11
To decode the meaning of those chemical
amendments, a consortium of institutes and researchers recently organized
the human epigenome Project (heP).
12
Why is learning about the human
epigenome so important?
A cell's epigenome regulates the activity of the genome. since the ge-
nome's activity is different in different cell types, there must actually be
many types of epigenomes. for example, there is an epigenome peculiar to
liver cells, heart cells, nerve cells, gut cells, and to each type of cancer cell.
The stated goal of the heP is “to identify all the chemical changes and
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