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Why do we ask this question?
The researchers were able to draw a map of the mutual impact of diseases and genes. They are trying to answer the question of whether it is possible to cause a healing domino effect by treating one disease or correcting some genes. Human disease networks and disease gene networks are used to organize a tremendous amount of medical knowledge. But can these tools also give us new clues regarding cures and treatments?
Scientists have spent decades mapping human disease genes. Initially, most of this effort was focused on the identification of genetic mutations responsible for single-gene disorders, like Duchenne muscular dystrophy. More recently, however, new technology has made it possible to link multiple genes to a single disease, as well as to connect multiple diseases to one another by way of the genes associated with them. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have played a large role in unraveling these complex relationships. Although these studies do not account for the many environmental factors that contribute to disease, they have revealed numerous gene-disease associations. In addition, such efforts have encouraged health care professionals to think about the molecular pathways of disease, which in turn has led to the development of various new treatment options.
Of course, researchers still have a long way to go before much of the knowledge provided by GWAS can actually be used to treat or cure human disorders. One prominent obstacle along the path to this goal involves determining how to best manage the ever-growing body of gene association data. Many biologists argue that gene-disease networking is not only a first step toward making GWAS data useful for health care, but also toward completely revamping how physicians think about disease–in particular, how they categorize various illnesses. It is hoped that, instead of viewing human sickness in terms of the tissue involved (e.g., cancer of the breast), physicians will start thinking in terms of the molecular pathways involved. To some extent, doctors are already doing this with diseases like invasive breast cancer, which is categorized as being either Her2/neu-positive or Her2/neu-negative.
