. "How Can We Use Natural Variation in Disease Resistance to Understand Host Pathogen Interactions and Devise New Therapies?." The National Academies Keck Futures Initiative The Genomic Revolution -- Implications for Treatment and Control of Infectious Disease: Working Group Summaries. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, 2006.
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The Genomic Revolution: Implications for Treatment and Control of Infectious Disease - Working Group Summaries
The Problem
Consider the numerous examples of genetic variation that contribute to the host response to infectious pathogens in terms of resistance, increased susceptibility, or varying response. Are there any general themes that can be derived from the growing number of examples of such genetic variants and are there specific approaches that can be taken at the genome level to identify large numbers of clinically important variants?
As such specific resistance and susceptibility alleles are identified, often with widely different prevalences among human populations, what specific social or policy issues does this raise when approaching these populations?
What approaches should be taken to increase the interaction between infectious disease experts and geneticists in harvesting this enormous dataset? Are new database structures and novel bioinformatic approaches necessary to effectively analyze this sequence variation information, including the interaction between the separate but ultimately related genomes of host and pathogen?
Initial References
Dean, M., M. Carrington, and S. J. O’Brien. 2002. Balanced polymorphism selected by genetic versus infectious human disease. Annual Review of Genomics and Human Genetics 3:263-292.
Fortin, A., M. M. Stevenson, and P. Gros. 2002. Susceptibility to malaria as a complex trait: big pressure from a tiny creature. Human Molecular Genetics 11(20):2469-2478.
O’Brien, S. J., and G. W. Nelson. 2004. Human genes that limit AIDS. Nature Genetics 36(6):565-574.
Segal, S., and A. V. Hill. 2003. Genetic susceptibility to infectious disease. Trends in Microbiology 11(9):445-448.
WORKING GROUP SUMMARY – GROUP 1
Summary written by:
Aria Pearson, Graduate Student, Science Writing, University of California, Santa Cruz
Working group members:
Philip Awadalla, Assistant Professor, Genetics, North Carolina State University
