genome project links illness and ethnicity


Your future treatment is in your genes
GENOME PROJECT LINKS ILLNESS AND ETHNICITY

By CAROLYN ABRAHAM

Thursday, October 27, 2005 Page A1

MEDICAL REPORTER

A landmark science project, in which Canada played a major role, has
completed the first catalogue of common genetic differences between
four of the world's ethnic groups.

Some of these variations account for the difference between
characteristics such as blue eyes or brown. But many of them could also
mean the difference between sickness and health.

As a result, the so-called Haplotype Map unveiled in Utah yesterday,
marks a historic step toward the era of customized health care -- in
which treatments could be tailor made to a patient's gene type.

The work, which has been made freely available on-line, is already
speeding the discovery of genes linked to big killers like cancers and
heart disease and those that predict how a person might respond to a
particular drug.

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