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Sun WB, Fu JX, Chen YL, Li HF, Wu ZY, Chen DF. Both gain- and loss-of-function variants of KCNA1 are associated with paroxysmal kinesigenic dyskinesia. J Genet Genomics 2024:S1673-8527(24)00066-3. [PMID: 38570113 DOI: 10.1016/j.jgg.2024.03.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/03/2023] [Revised: 03/28/2024] [Accepted: 03/29/2024] [Indexed: 04/05/2024]
Abstract
KCNA1 is the coding gene for Kv1.1 voltage-gated potassium-channel α subunit. Three variants of KCNA1 have been reported to manifest as paroxysmal kinesigenic dyskinesia (PKD), but the correlation between them remains unclear due to the phenotypic complexity of KCNA1 variants as well as the rarity of PKD cases. Using the whole exome sequencing followed by Sanger sequencing, we screen for potential pathogenic KCNA1 variants in patients clinically diagnosed with paroxysmal movement disorders and identify three previously unreported missense variants of KCNA1 in three unrelated Chinese families. The proband of one family (c.496G>A, p.A166T) manifests as episodic ataxia type 1, and the other two (c.877G>A, p.V293I and c.1112C>A, p.T371A) manifest as PKD. The pathogenicity of these variants is confirmed by functional studies, suggesting that p.A166T and p.T371A cause a loss-of-function of the channel, while p.V293I leads to a gain-of-function with the property of voltage-dependent gating and activation kinetic affected. By reviewing the locations of PKD-manifested KCNA1 variants in Kv1.1 protein, we find that these variants tend to cluster around the pore domain, which is similar to epilepsy. Thus, our study strengthens the correlation between KCNA1 variants and PKD and provides more information on genotype-phenotype correlations of KCNA1 channelopathy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wan-Bing Sun
- Department of Medical Genetics and Center for Rare Diseases, and Department of Neurology, and Zhejiang Key Laboratory of Rare Diseases for Precision Medicine and Clinical Translation in Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310009, China; Nanhu Brain-computer Interface Institute, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 314050, China
| | - Jing-Xin Fu
- Department of Medical Genetics and Center for Rare Diseases, and Department of Neurology, and Zhejiang Key Laboratory of Rare Diseases for Precision Medicine and Clinical Translation in Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310009, China
| | - Yu-Lan Chen
- Department of Medical Genetics and Center for Rare Diseases, and Department of Neurology, and Zhejiang Key Laboratory of Rare Diseases for Precision Medicine and Clinical Translation in Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310009, China
| | - Hong-Fu Li
- Department of Medical Genetics and Center for Rare Diseases, and Department of Neurology, and Zhejiang Key Laboratory of Rare Diseases for Precision Medicine and Clinical Translation in Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310009, China; Nanhu Brain-computer Interface Institute, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 314050, China
| | - Zhi-Ying Wu
- Department of Medical Genetics and Center for Rare Diseases, and Department of Neurology, and Zhejiang Key Laboratory of Rare Diseases for Precision Medicine and Clinical Translation in Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310009, China; Nanhu Brain-computer Interface Institute, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 314050, China; MOE Frontier Science Center for Brain Science and Brain-machine Integration, School of Brain Science and Brain Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310012, China.
| | - Dian-Fu Chen
- Department of Medical Genetics and Center for Rare Diseases, and Department of Neurology, and Zhejiang Key Laboratory of Rare Diseases for Precision Medicine and Clinical Translation in Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310009, China; MOE Frontier Science Center for Brain Science and Brain-machine Integration, School of Brain Science and Brain Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310012, China.
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Advances in Genetic Editing of the Human Embryo. Am J Ther 2023; 30:e126-e133. [PMID: 36762925 DOI: 10.1097/mjt.0000000000001604] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/11/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Genetic engineering has allowed a major development of research in this field, with specialists attempting to edit the human genome, after the successful editing of the genomes of plants and animals. However, human gene editing technologies are at the center of ethical debates around the world. AREAS OF UNCERTAINTY Ethical concerns about genetic editing of the human embryo raise several issues that can be viewed through the prism of optimism and reluctance leading to a number of recommendations regarding the acceptance of what may soon become a reality. DATA SOURCES A literature search was conducted through PubMed, MEDLINE, Plus, Scopus, and Web of Science (2015-2022) using combinations of keywords, including: human genome or gene editing plus ethics. ETHICS AND THERAPEUTIC ADVANCES Gene therapy is seen by researchers as a way to solve congenital diseases, multifactorial diseases in general or specific diseases such as cystic fibrosis, muscular dystrophy, or can increase resistance to HIV infection. Genome editing technologies, germline gene editing, clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats gene editing technology, technologies such as zinc finger nucleases are not only advanced gene therapies that require solving technical problems, but also techniques that require complex and complete analysis of ethical problems. Genetic engineering raises many ethical concerns such as: safety concerns especially the risk of off-target effects; autonomy of the individual-with the limitation of the future generations to consent for an intervention over their genome; social justice-keeping in mind the costs of the procedures and their availability to the general population. Discussions can go further from questions such as "How can we do this?" to questions such as "Should we do this?" or "Is society ready to accept this technology and is it able to manage it rationally?" CONCLUSIONS The ethics of biomedical research should be based on global dialogue, on the involvement of experts and the public, to achieve a broad social consensus. The fundamental review of the ethics of genetics is a desire and an opportunity of the current period.
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Wei B, Zhou W, Peng M, Long J, Wen W. The population incidence of thalassemia gene variants in Baise, Guangxi, P. R. China, based on random samples. Hematology 2022; 27:1026-1031. [PMID: 36066284 DOI: 10.1080/16078454.2022.2119736] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/15/2023] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Thalassemia is a monogenic genetic disorder with a high prevalence in populations in the southern region of China. The thalassemia gene prevalence rate in the Baise population in China is high, and several rare gene variants have been detected in the population of this region during routine testing by our study group. To accurately reveal the thalassemia gene variants carried by the population in Baise, and to provide a basis for the formulation of thalassemia prevention and control policies in the region, we conducted a more comprehensive study in a randomly selected population. RESULTS In all, 4,800 randomized individuals were recruited for testing from Baise, and the detection of hot spot thalassemia genetic variants were performed by Gap-PCR and PCR-RDB methods, combined with the relative quantification of homologous fragments and AS-PCR to expand the detection range. The prevalence of thalassemia variants in this population was 24.19%, among which 16.69% of individuals carried α-thalassemia gene variants alone, 5.62% carried β-thalassemia gene variants alone, and 1.88% carried both variants. CONCLUSIONS The use of positive primary screening combined with hot spot gene variant detection alone can result in a certain degree of missed detection. In the prevention and control of thalassemia in the region, testing institutions need to pay attention to the detection of rare thalassemia gene variants such as αααanti4.2, αααanti3.7, -α2.4, -α21.9, β-50, β-90, and βIVS-II-5, to provide more accurate genetic counseling advice to subjects.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bixiao Wei
- Clinical Laboratory, The Affiliated Shunde Hospital of Jinan University, Foshan, Guangdong, PR People's Republic of China
- Clinical Laboratory Center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, PR People's Republic of China
- Clinical Laboratory, The People's Hospital of Baise, Baise, Guangxi, PR People's Republic of China
| | - Weijie Zhou
- Clinical Laboratory, The People's Hospital of Baise, Baise, Guangxi, PR People's Republic of China
| | - Mingkui Peng
- Laboratory of Medical Genetics, Qinzhou Maternal and Child Health Care Hospital, Qinzhou, Guangxi, PR People's Republic of China
| | - Ju Long
- Laboratory of Medical Genetics, Qinzhou Maternal and Child Health Care Hospital, Qinzhou, Guangxi, PR People's Republic of China
| | - Wangrong Wen
- Clinical Laboratory, The Affiliated Shunde Hospital of Jinan University, Foshan, Guangdong, PR People's Republic of China
- Clinical Laboratory Center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, PR People's Republic of China
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Long J, Sun L, Gong F, Zhang C, Mao A, Lu Y, Li J, Liu E. Third-generation sequencing: A novel tool detects complex variants in the α-thalassemia gene. Gene 2022; 822:146332. [PMID: 35181504 DOI: 10.1016/j.gene.2022.146332] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/29/2021] [Revised: 01/23/2022] [Accepted: 02/11/2022] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Thalassemia is a monogenic disorder with a high carrier rate in the southern region of China. Most laboratories currently follow the protocol of testing hematologic indicators in individuals with positive hematologic indicators and then using the hot-spot mutation test kit. A novel thalassemia gene test is performed if there is a mismatch between the hematology and hot-spot mutation test results. However, due to the large population in southern China, some individuals carry complex α-globin gene cluster (CAGC) variants in NG_000006.1, which are difficult to detect using conventional thalassemia genetic analysis protocols, leading to missed or false genetic test results for individuals carrying these complex α-globin gene cluster variants. When an individual carries a complex α-thalassemia gene variant, and an individual carries a β- thalassemia gene variant, there may be clinical symptoms that might complicate clinical consultation and prenatal diagnosis if not accurately detected. Third-generation sequencing (TGS) enables long-read single-molecule sequencing with high detection accuracy, and long-length DNA chain reads in high-fidelity reads mode. TGS can be used to analyze high homology and rich GC DNA sequences. RESULTS Four samples that showed abnormalities in the thalassemia genetic test were studied using TGS, revealing that they carried genotypes with complex α-globin gene cluster variants, one of which was a complex variant αα anti3.7 α anti3.7 α 17.2. CONCLUSIONS TGS detects complex α-globin gene cluster variants. This study may provide a reference protocol for the use of TGS for the detection of complex α-globin gene cluster variants. TGS can reveal individuals with complex α-thalassemia genotypes in the population and improve the accuracy of genetic counseling and prenatal diagnosis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ju Long
- School of Basic Medical Sciences, Xi'an Jiaotong University Health Science Center, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710061, China; Laboratory of Medical Genetics, Qinzhou Maternal and Child Health Care Hospital, Qinzhou, Guangxi 535099, PR China.
| | - Lei Sun
- School of Basic Medical Sciences, Xi'an Jiaotong University Health Science Center, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710061, China; Laboratory of Medical Genetics, Qinzhou Maternal and Child Health Care Hospital, Qinzhou, Guangxi 535099, PR China
| | - Feifei Gong
- Laboratory of Medical Genetics, Qinzhou Maternal and Child Health Care Hospital, Qinzhou, Guangxi 535099, PR China
| | - Chenghong Zhang
- Laboratory of Medical Genetics, Qinzhou Maternal and Child Health Care Hospital, Qinzhou, Guangxi 535099, PR China
| | - Aiping Mao
- Third-Generation Sequencing BU, Berry Genomics Corporation, Beijing 102200, China
| | - Yulin Lu
- Third-Generation Sequencing BU, Berry Genomics Corporation, Beijing 102200, China
| | - Jiaqi Li
- Third-Generation Sequencing BU, Berry Genomics Corporation, Beijing 102200, China
| | - Enqi Liu
- School of Basic Medical Sciences, Xi'an Jiaotong University Health Science Center, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710061, China.
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Patient participation in treatment decision-making of prostate cancer: a qualitative study. Support Care Cancer 2022; 30:4189-4200. [PMID: 35083538 DOI: 10.1007/s00520-021-06753-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/23/2021] [Accepted: 12/09/2021] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
PURPOSE Despite increasing development in decision-making strategies for patients with prostate cancer, little is known about patients' individual experience and perception throughout the decision-making process. The objective of this study was to explore patients' experiences and perceptions towards treatment decision-making. METHODS We conducted a qualitative interview study with 30 patients diagnosed with prostate cancer. We transcribed interviews verbatim and inductively identified codes. Thematic analysis was used to develop and refine a codebook that aided in the identification of themes. RESULTS Three key themes and nine subthemes emerged, which were as follows: I. less involved in treatment decision-making, (i) passive decisional control, (ii) lack of medical knowledge, and (iii) domination by family members; II. the right to be informed of the disease condition and to choose treatment options, (i) sociocultural influences, (ii) patients believe that they should know the true facts of the disease, and (iii) patient autonomy during treatment; and III. future consideration and advance care planning, (i) fewer future concerns, (ii) advance care planning is poorly understood, and (iii) acceptance of advance care planning. CONCLUSION The study results show that patients with prostate cancer have a diversity of needs to cultivate their ability to make treatment decisions, and healthcare professionals should empower patients, as well as provide decision aids or decision support for patients.
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Long J, Liu E. Identification of the β thalassemia allele β -50 and analysis of the hematology data of carriers in a southern Chinese population. Ann Hum Genet 2021; 86:63-70. [PMID: 34558661 DOI: 10.1111/ahg.12446] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/24/2021] [Revised: 08/18/2021] [Accepted: 09/08/2021] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
During a routine test, we identified a 38-year-old man who had a positive hematology screening result but was negative for hot spot variants of his thalassemia gene. Further analysis identified β-50 (HBB: c.-100G>A). It was first suggested that β-50 was a β+ -thal allele, and some research groups suggested this allele was a silent β-thal allele. To fully understand the hematological phenotype of the β-50 allele, we screened for individuals carrying β-50 in the general population and performed hematology analysis on these carriers. A real-time PCR detection system was designed to verify samples carrying β-50 . Twenty-one thousand samples and 43 pedigree samples were screened, and 86 β-50 carriers were detected. We performed hematological analysis on 65 individuals older than 3 years who had normal serum ferritin and analyzed the data. A total of 34.62% of the β-50 /βN individuals had mean cellular volume (MCV) or mean cellular hemoglobin (MCH) values slightly lower than the positive cutoff value of screening; the β-50 carriers' Hb A2 value was slightly elevated. According to the test results, β-50 carriers have slight changes in hematology parameters, including slight decreases in MCV and MCH and slight increases in Hb A2 ; however, these effects do not reach the degree of traditional β+ alleles. Females with genotype β-50 /β0 show a degree of decline in hematological indicators during pregnancy. Therefore, we should describe β-50 as a β++ thalassemia allele, and identification of β-50 can explain slight changes in hematological indicators in some carriers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ju Long
- School of Basic Medical Sciences, Xi'an Jiaotong University Health Science Center, Xi'an, Shaanxi, P. R. China.,Laboratory of Medical Genetics, Qinzhou Maternal and Child Health Care Hospital, Qinzhou, Guangxi, P.R. China
| | - Enqi Liu
- School of Basic Medical Sciences, Xi'an Jiaotong University Health Science Center, Xi'an, Shaanxi, P. R. China
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Applications of CRISPR-Cas9 as an Advanced Genome Editing System in Life Sciences. BIOTECH 2021; 10:biotech10030014. [PMID: 35822768 PMCID: PMC9245484 DOI: 10.3390/biotech10030014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/24/2021] [Revised: 06/16/2021] [Accepted: 06/25/2021] [Indexed: 12/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Targeted nucleases are powerful genomic tools to precisely change the target genome of living cells, controlling functional genes with high exactness. The clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats associated protein 9 (CRISPR-Cas9) genome editing system has been identified as one of the most useful biological tools in genetic engineering that is taken from adaptive immune strategies for bacteria. In recent years, this system has made significant progress and it has been widely used in genome editing to create gene knock-ins, knock-outs, and point mutations. This paper summarizes the application of this system in various biological sciences, including medicine, plant science, and animal breeding.
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Zhang Q, Qin Z, Yi S, Wei H, Zhou XZ, Su J. Clinical application of whole-exome sequencing: A retrospective, single-center study. Exp Ther Med 2021; 22:753. [PMID: 34035850 PMCID: PMC8135134 DOI: 10.3892/etm.2021.10185] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/29/2020] [Accepted: 08/26/2020] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The aim of the present study was to assess the practical diagnostic value of whole-exome sequencing (WES) in patients with different phenotypes and to explore possible strategies to increase the capability of WES in identifying disease-causing genes. A total of 1,360 patients (aged from 1 day to 42 years old) with manifestations of genetic diseases were genotyped using WES and statistical analysis was performed on the results obtained. Within this cohort, the overall positive rate of identification of a disease-causing gene alteration was 44.41%. The positive identification rate where trio-samples were used (from the proband and both parents) was higher than that where a single proband sample was used (50.00 vs. 43.71%), and 604 positive cases with 150 genetic syndromes, 510 genes and 718 mutations were detected. Missense mutations were the most common variations (n=335, 45.27%) and visual or auditory abnormalities (58.51%) had the highest rate of association with a genetic abnormality. The positive detection rate of WES was elevated with the increase in the number of clinical symptoms from 1 to 8. The present study indicated that WES may be used as a valuable tool in the clinic and the positive rate depends more on the professional experience of clinicians rather than on the analytical capabilities of the data analyst. At the same time, particular attention must be paid to certain possible factors (such as the age of the patients as well as possible exon deletions), which may affect the diagnostic rate while applying this process.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qiang Zhang
- Laboratory of Genetic and Metabolism, Department of Paediatric Endocrine and Metabolism, Maternal and Child Health Hospital of Guangxi, Nanning, Guangxi 530000, P.R. China
| | - Zailong Qin
- Laboratory of Genetic and Metabolism, Department of Paediatric Endocrine and Metabolism, Maternal and Child Health Hospital of Guangxi, Nanning, Guangxi 530000, P.R. China
| | - Shang Yi
- Laboratory of Genetic and Metabolism, Department of Paediatric Endocrine and Metabolism, Maternal and Child Health Hospital of Guangxi, Nanning, Guangxi 530000, P.R. China
| | - Hao Wei
- Laboratory of Genetic and Metabolism, Department of Paediatric Endocrine and Metabolism, Maternal and Child Health Hospital of Guangxi, Nanning, Guangxi 530000, P.R. China
| | - Xun Zhao Zhou
- Laboratory of Genetic and Metabolism, Department of Paediatric Endocrine and Metabolism, Maternal and Child Health Hospital of Guangxi, Nanning, Guangxi 530000, P.R. China
| | - Jiasun Su
- Laboratory of Genetic and Metabolism, Department of Paediatric Endocrine and Metabolism, Maternal and Child Health Hospital of Guangxi, Nanning, Guangxi 530000, P.R. China
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Gao F, Huang W, You Y, Huang J, Zhao J, Xue J, Kang H, Zhu Y, Hu Z, Allen EG, Jin P, Xia K, Duan R. Development of Chinese genetic reference panel for Fragile X Syndrome and its application to the screen of 10,000 Chinese pregnant women and women planning pregnancy. Mol Genet Genomic Med 2020; 8:e1236. [PMID: 32281281 PMCID: PMC7284044 DOI: 10.1002/mgg3.1236] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/08/2019] [Revised: 02/24/2020] [Accepted: 03/01/2020] [Indexed: 02/02/2023] Open
Abstract
Background Fragile X syndrome (FXS) is the most common inherited form of intellectual disability caused by a CGG repeat expansion in the 5′ untranslated region of the FMR1 gene. When the number of repeats exceeds 200, the gene becomes hypermethylated and is transcriptionally silenced, resulting in FXS. Other allelic forms of the gene that are studied because of their instability or phenotypic consequence include intermediate alleles (45–54 CGG repeats) and premutation alleles (55–200 repeats). Normal alleles are classified as having <45 CGG repeats. Population screening studies have been conducted among American and Australian populations; however, large population‐based studies have not been completed in China. Methods and Results In this work we present FXS screening results from 10,145 women of childbearing age from China. We first created and tested a standard panel that was comprised of normal, intermediate, premutation, and full mutation samples, and we performed the screening after confirming the consistency of genotyping results among laboratories. Conclusion Based on our findings, we have determined the intermediate and premutation carrier prevalence of 1/130 and 1/634, respectively, among Chinese women.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fei Gao
- Center for Medical Genetics, School of Life Sciences, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China.,National Institutes for Food and Drug Control, Beijing, China
| | - Wen Huang
- Center for Medical Genetics, School of Life Sciences, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China
| | - Yanjun You
- National Institutes for Food and Drug Control, Beijing, China
| | - Jie Huang
- National Institutes for Food and Drug Control, Beijing, China
| | - Juan Zhao
- Center for Medical Genetics, School of Life Sciences, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China
| | - Jin Xue
- Center for Medical Genetics, School of Life Sciences, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China
| | - Huaixing Kang
- Center for Medical Genetics, School of Life Sciences, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China
| | - Yingbao Zhu
- Center for Medical Genetics, School of Life Sciences, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China
| | - Zhengmao Hu
- Center for Medical Genetics, School of Life Sciences, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China.,Hunan Key Laboratory of Medical Genetics, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China
| | - Emily G Allen
- Department of Human Genetics, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA
| | - Peng Jin
- Department of Human Genetics, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA
| | - Kun Xia
- Center for Medical Genetics, School of Life Sciences, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China.,Hunan Key Laboratory of Medical Genetics, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China
| | - Ranhui Duan
- Center for Medical Genetics, School of Life Sciences, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China.,Hunan Key Laboratory of Medical Genetics, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China.,Hunan Key Laboratory of Animal Models for Human Diseases, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China
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Ayanoğlu FB, Elçin AE, Elçin YM. Bioethical issues in genome editing by CRISPR-Cas9 technology. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2020; 44:110-120. [PMID: 32256147 PMCID: PMC7129066 DOI: 10.3906/biy-1912-52] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
Genome editing technologies have led to fundamental changes in genetic science. Among them, CRISPR-Cas9 technology particularly stands out due to its advantages such as easy handling, high accuracy, and low cost. It has made a quick introduction in fields related to humans, animals, and the environment, while raising difficult questions, applications, concerns, and bioethical issues to be discussed. Most concerns stem from the use of CRISPR-Cas9 to genetically alter human germline cells and embryos (called germline genome editing). Germline genome editing leads to serial bioethical issues, such as the occurrence of undesirable changes in the genome, from whom and how informed consent is obtained, and the breeding of the human species (eugenics). However, the bioethical issues that CRISPR-Cas9 technology could cause in the environment, agriculture and livestock should also not be forgotten. In order for CRISPR-Cas9 to be used safely in all areas and to solve potential issues, worldwide legislation should be prepared, taking into account the opinions of both life and social scientists, policy makers, and all other stakeholders of the sectors, and CRISPR-Cas9 applications should be implemented according to such legislations. However, these controls should not restrict scientific freedom. Here, various applications of CRISPR-Cas9 technology, especially in medicine and agriculture, are described and ethical issues related to genome editing using CRISPR-Cas9 technology are discussed. The social and bioethical concerns in relation to human beings, other organisms, and the environment are addressed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fatma Betül Ayanoğlu
- Tissue Engineering, Biomaterials and Nanobiotechnology Laboratory, Ankara University Faculty of Science,Ankara University Biotechnology Institute, Ankara University Stem Cell Institute, Ankara Turkey
| | - Ayşe Eser Elçin
- Tissue Engineering, Biomaterials and Nanobiotechnology Laboratory, Ankara University Faculty of Science,Ankara University Biotechnology Institute, Ankara University Stem Cell Institute, Ankara Turkey
| | - Yaşar Murat Elçin
- Tissue Engineering, Biomaterials and Nanobiotechnology Laboratory, Ankara University Faculty of Science,Ankara University Biotechnology Institute, Ankara University Stem Cell Institute, Ankara Turkey.,Biovalda Health Technologies, Inc., Ankara Turkey
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Cai L, He L. Placebo effects and the molecular biological components involved. Gen Psychiatr 2019; 32:e100089. [PMID: 31552390 PMCID: PMC6738668 DOI: 10.1136/gpsych-2019-100089] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/29/2019] [Revised: 07/18/2019] [Accepted: 07/30/2019] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Pharmacologically inactive substances have been used in medicine for more than 700 years and can trigger beneficial responses in the human body, which is referred to as the placebo effects or placebo responses. This effect is robust enough to influence psychosocial and physiological responses to the placebo and to active treatments in many settings, which has led to increased interest from researchers. In this article, we summarise the history of placebo, the characteristics of placebo effects and recent advancements reported from the studies on placebo effects and highlight placebome studies to identify various molecular biological components associated with placebo effects. Although placebos have a long history, the placebome concept is still in its infancy. Although behavioural, neurobiological and genetic studies have identified that molecules in the dopamine, opioid, serotonin and endocannabinoid systems might be targets of the placebo effect, placebome studies with a no-treatment control (NTC) are necessary to identify whole-genome genetic targets. Although bioinformatics analysis has identified the molecular placebome module, placebome studies with NTCs are also required to validate the related findings.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lei Cai
- Bio-X Institutes, Key Laboratory for the Genetics of Developmental and Neuropsychiatric Disorders (Ministry of Education), Collaborative Innovation Center of Genetics and Development, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai 200240, China
| | - Lin He
- Bio-X Institutes, Key Laboratory for the Genetics of Developmental and Neuropsychiatric Disorders (Ministry of Education), Collaborative Innovation Center of Genetics and Development, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai 200240, China
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