You Can Use Your Own DNA to Determine Your Susceptibility to Various Diseases like Alzheimer's, Heart Disease, Hearing Loss, and Stroke...

I just don't want any database having this kind of info on me..I could see this used in the future to deny insurance(life/medical).. possibly employment or God knows what else..organ harvesting for example..

Am I the only one who wants to be surprised by what ends up killing me?

For Alzheimer's (early-onset or not), there are two specific base-pair locations along the 19th chromosome which appear to be crucial to the formation of a specific protein (APOE, described above).

Here are the (Ancestry.com) results of the two most relevant base-pairs with regard to the formation of this particular protein within my own genomic data:

rs429358	19	45411941	T	T
 Quoting: Akashic's Genetics rs#429358

rs7412	19	45412079	C	C
 Quoting: Akashic's Genetics rs#7412

The first column is the "reference SNP" where "SNP" refers to what is called a Single Nucleotide Polymorphism...that is to say that a single DNA nucleobase (A, G, C, or T) in a specific location differs from the "reference" human genome...these can be both 'good' and 'bad' differences; with 'bad' being pathological in most cases, especially when they fall within coding regions of DNA, but more on that later... (SNPs are also called "snips.") [link to en.wikipedia.org (secure)]

The second column is the chromosome number, which is the 19th in this example. (Genes are distributed along chromosomes and vary in length quite a bit; humans have a total of 22 chromosomes plus a 23rd sex-determining chromosome... XX for females, and XY for males.)

The third column (45,411,941 and 45,412,079 in this example) is the exact base pair location along the particular chromosome with respect to the "reference" human genome. (The human genome is billions of base pairs in length, with individual genes within different chromosomes being tens of thousands to many millions of base pairs in length.)

The fourth and fifth columns are "alleles" and correspond to the four different possible nucleobases. (The fourth column is generally the most relevant to what I am going to demonstrate.) [link to en.wikipedia.org (secure)]


A quick crash-course on human genetics will reveal that the vast majority of our DNA is exactly the same, at least insofar as us all being members of the homo sapiens species...but we will all have many hundreds of thousands of differences at specific locations on certain chromosomes.

That said, we can then identify ourselves independently by observing the specific locations where our genetic code differs, rather than just assuming the entire length of our genetic sequence (since most of it is the same)...


:geek:


But enough about all that...

...how do we interpret the results?

If viruses can change your DNA would you need to retest later in life?

You can also look at the Raw data and discover if you do or do not have the CCR5 genetic mutation - which provides resistance to HIV.

This is something that has recently fascinated me, mostly because of how easy it is to perform... (I also didn't think this information was as accessible as it actually is.)


If you've ever used an Ancestry.com (or 23andMe) DNA test, you can download the RAW data from your test. This lets you do a number of things that I previously assumed would have required some type of advanced panel test, or to be a chosen member of some rare medical study...

It turns out that you can perform a self-analysis of your own personal genetic predisposition to various diseases, etc., and it might only take a matter of minutes... (Ask your family doctor to do *that*, eh? Good luck!)


For this example, I'm using Alzheimer's disease, but this particular demonstration may also factor in to things like heart disease and stroke (among others)...


Here is a quick primer on the APOE gene, with some rather easy-to-digest information: [link to ghr.nlm.nih.gov (secure)]



^^^ did you know that you can quote links???


The jist of this is that there is a specific sequence of our genetic material (primarily along chromosome 19) that codes for a specific protein, apolipoprotein E: [link to en.wikipedia.org (secure)]

Genetic mutations in (at least two) specific locations here account for up to four different "alleles," one of which can be a big marker for increased susceptibility to Alzheimer's disease, possibly even before age 65... (This is a rather dumbed-down explanation, but it gets the point across.)


In this thread, I will show a concise analysis of (some of) my own personal genetic sequence information with respect to the morbidity of early-onset Alzheimer's disease, as well as age-related hearing loss, age-related macular degeneration, heart disease, and even stroke; all of which can be potentially factored in through this type of genetic research, mostly because of the prime importance of lipid and cholesterol-carrying proteins within the bloodstream...

Am I the only one who wants to be surprised by what ends up killing me?

This gene encodes a member of the beta chemokine receptor family, which is predicted to be a seven transmembrane protein similar to G protein-coupled receptors. This protein is expressed by T cells and macrophages, and is known to be an important co-receptor for macrophage-tropic virus, including HIV, to enter host cells. Defective alleles of this gene have been associated with the HIV infection resistance. The ligands of this receptor include monocyte chemoattractant protein 2 (MCP-2), macrophage inflammatory protein 1 alpha (MIP-1 alpha), macrophage inflammatory protein 1 beta (MIP-1 beta) and regulated on activation normal T expressed and secreted protein (RANTES). Expression of this gene was also detected in a promyeloblastic cell line, suggesting that this protein may play a role in granulocyte lineage proliferation and differentiation. This gene is located at the chemokine receptor gene cluster region. An allelic polymorphism in this gene results in both functional and non-functional alleles; the reference genome represents the functional allele. Two transcript variants encoding the same protein have been found for this gene.

Receptor for a number of inflammatory CC-chemokines including CCL3/MIP-1-alpha, CCL4/MIP-1-beta and RANTES and subsequently transduces a signal by increasing the intracellular calcium ion level. May play a role in the control of granulocytic lineage proliferation or differentiation.

(Microbial infection) Acts as a coreceptor (CD4 being the primary receptor) of human immunodeficiency virus-1/HIV-1.

Thanks man, great thread.

This is something that has recently fascinated me, mostly because of how easy it is to perform... (I also didn't think this information was as accessible as it actually is.)


If you've ever used an Ancestry.com (or 23andMe) DNA test, you can download the RAW data from your test. This lets you do a number of things that I previously assumed would have required some type of advanced panel test, or to be a chosen member of some rare medical study...

It turns out that you can perform a self-analysis of your own personal genetic predisposition to various diseases, etc., and it might only take a matter of minutes... (Ask your family doctor to do *that*, eh? Good luck!)


For this example, I'm using Alzheimer's disease, but this particular demonstration may also factor in to things like heart disease and stroke (among others)...


Here is a quick primer on the APOE gene, with some rather easy-to-digest information: [link to ghr.nlm.nih.gov (secure)]



^^^ did you know that you can quote links???


The jist of this is that there is a specific sequence of our genetic material (primarily along chromosome 19) that codes for a specific protein, apolipoprotein E: [link to en.wikipedia.org (secure)]

Genetic mutations in (at least two) specific locations here account for up to four different "alleles," one of which can be a big marker for increased susceptibility to Alzheimer's disease, possibly even before age 65... (This is a rather dumbed-down explanation, but it gets the point across.)


In this thread, I will show a concise analysis of (some of) my own personal genetic sequence information with respect to the morbidity of early-onset Alzheimer's disease, as well as age-related hearing loss, age-related macular degeneration, heart disease, and even stroke; all of which can be potentially factored in through this type of genetic research, mostly because of the prime importance of lipid and cholesterol-carrying proteins within the bloodstream...