CYBERJAYA: An Egyptian scholar asserted the vast potential of genomic editing in the care of patients and prevention of gene-related diseases among healthy people.
In a public lecture titled ‘Public Health, Private Medicine: Reflections on the Impact of the New Genetics’ at the Malaysian Industry–Government Group for High Technology (MIGHT) Partnership Hub here today, Dr Ismail Serageldin said that this technique has the ability to correct the conditions caused by changes in the DNA.
However, he expressed that genomic editing can generate fear, leaving no room for mistakes.
“You take a cell, edit, reinsert and get the results. So far, the test had been conducted on dogs. It is not done on humans yet, because it is complicated. This is because most genetic diseases are caused by a number of genes interacting with environmental factors.
“Environmental factors such as food, drugs or exposure to toxins can cause epigenetic changes by altering the way molecules bind to DNA or changing the structure of proteins related to the DNA ,” he said at the talk, moderated by co-chair of MIGHT, Tan Sri Zakri Abdul Hamid.
Serageldin added that such technology can be used during in vitro fertilisation (IVF) where doctors can choose to ‘edit’ a disease-causing gene.
“It is like selecting a disease-free embryo. Why must we transfer it and make it risky for the carrier? Besides IVF, it should monitored for Mendelian diseases too,” he said.
He also called on the Malaysian government to venture into the new genetics technology and its application for future gene-related disease prevention.
On another development, Serageldin said that while some parents refused to vaccinate their children due to fears that it can cause autism and other chronic illnesses, there’s no scientific evidence to confirm this.
“Vaccine is the single greatest medical achievements of modern civilisation, to prevent small pox in children. There were even some studies saying it was not beneficial, but later it was withdrawn,” he added.
Meanwhile, Malaysian Node of the Human Variome Project Head Professor Zilfalil Alwi said Malaysia is making progress in the field of human genetics in terms of research, but more must be done to catch up with other developed countries.
“We need to change our focus to developing genetics in health care but resources is also another matter to look into. So far, only Universiti Sains Malaysia is offering a four-year specialist training programme for medical doctors to be trained in medical genetics. And since 2012, we have produced three genetics specialists in the country,” he said.
He added that these lab-based specialists would help reduce genetic diseases and genetic-related issues, as well as having the ability to carry out genetic testings, including genetic screening.
“Some of our local academic institutions have started doing research on Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR/Cas9) which is a simple and efficient genome-editing tool. But as Serageldin mentioned in his talks, people can buy the DIY (Do It Yourself) BIO which can be bought over a counter in United States.
“This is the fear we have, whereby humans will want to genetically modify themselves, perhaps to increase muscle mass,” he said. – Bernama