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Chemical Industry:
FINLAND - A POSSIBLE WORLD LEADER
IN RESEARCH INTO DISEASE GENES
by Eeva-Liisa Vallin
Finland is a unique target country for research into disease
genes. In Finland there is a high standard of health care
and the population is descended from the Finnish equivalent
of Adam and Eve - there is a great deal of similarity in Finns’
genes compared with the United States for example.
Expertise in genetic research in Finland and the special
features of the region have also been noted by the EU, because
in September 2002 Finland received an appropriation of 13.5
million euros to coordinate a project into twin research that
involves research workers from seven countries.
Pioneering research work into genes has been done for more
than 20 years by Professor Leena Peltonen-Palotie and her
group at Helsinki University and the Gene Department at the
National Public Health Institute. She returned to her home
country in the autumn of 2002 just to coordinate the European
twin research after four years of research at the University
of California.
“In Finland one in a hundred births are twins. In the
whole of Europe there are 800,000 pairs of twins i.e. 1.6
million people,” she states.
Professor Peltonen-Palotie’s group has been doing research
into typical Finnish illnesses and disease genes, such as
the genes of AGU and Salla’s disease, which manifest
themselves only in Finland, and also Finnish cardiovascular
diseases.
In addition to the twin research that is now under way, i.e.
understanding the genes of the population, the EU is financing
at the same time a centre that is studying the genotype of
mice and one unit that is examining the structure of proteins.
“It’s splendid that Finnish know-how has been recognized
and Finland has been given the task of coordinating the most
important of these projects in terms of human illnesses,”
Peltonen-Palotie says.
Human genotype on the Internet
Professor Peltonen-Palotie says that all the genes of a human
being and their structure have been made accessible on the
Internet for everybody at the address http:/www.ncbi.nim.nih.gov/genome/guide/human/.
The information is mainly used by research workers, but the
ordinary person, too, can find interesting things on the pages,
such as how many chromosomes a person has, what factors affect
Down’s syndrome or a certain type of high hereditary
cholesterol. What the multitude of causes are behind illnesses
and what predisposes people to them. Why one person becomes
sick and another does not.
“It’s quite certain that all of us will come down
with some disease at some stage of our life, and the longer
you live the more certain you are to fall ill,” says
Peltonen-Palotie.
“The purpose of studying inherited diseases and genes
is not to extend a person’s life but to identify at the
level of the whole genotype the ‘gene profiles’
that influence the outbreak of different sicknesses together
with environmental factors. With this knowledge it will be
possible to aim at developing even more precise ‘highly
selective medicines’, and even prevent a sickness totally
or at least make the illness milder.”
The twin research will make it possible to study hereditariness
and the effects of the environment. The twins being examined
have developed similarly in the foetal stage, and also lived
in the same type of environment for a long time after that.
It is extremely important to know whether twins fall ill to
the same inherited diseases, and if not, why.
Finland ahead of the USA
Professor Peltonen-Palotie says that the same kind of gene
research relating to illnesses that is being carried out in
Finland would not be possible in the United States, because
their health care is inferior in its organization, epidemiological
information is incomplete and the population is not as consistent
in terms of its genotype compared with Finns. In this context
the pioneering work in the study of cancer genes by Finns
is worth mentioning.
Peltonen-Palotie believes, however, that the training of
doctors focuses too little on an understanding of genes and
genetic information. A genotype should be understood as much
by specialists for internal medicine as by neurologists. Disturbances
to the heart’s rhythm, clotted veins and thrombi can
be caused by the genotype. Five genes that contribute to creating
Alzheimer’s disease are now known.
“Finland and the Scandinavian countries have at their
disposal a kind of position of special strength in biosciences,
top-grade health care and the genetic and epidemiological
research that is associated with it. We know an enormous amount
about the events in people’s life cycle.”
Professor Peltonen-Palotie says that this advantage in health
care and research should be exploited further. The best results
would be achieved through wide-scale cooperation with different
scientific fields.
“The IT sector, mathematicians and health care should
cooperate more closely,” she stresses.
Published 2003
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