<p>From studies that explain how 23andMe’s massive database can accelerate the targeting and development of disease-fighting drugs, to DNA research which <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-6586" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/23andMe_Logo_blog-300x300.jpg" alt="23andMe_Logo_blog" width="300" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/23andMe_Logo_blog-300x300.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/23andMe_Logo_blog-150x150.jpg 150w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/23andMe_Logo_blog-271x271.jpg 271w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/23andMe_Logo_blog.jpg 350w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />uncovers the legacy of dynamic mixing in the New World over the last 500 years, 23andMe will again put its best science forward at the annual meeting of the American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG). (If you&#8217;re at the conference come by our booth, #1905.)</p>
<h6>San Diego Bound</h6>
<p>This year’s gathering will be in San Diego, and it’s expected to attract more than 6,500 scientists over four days in October.</p>
<p>The annual event brings together the best and brightest minds in human genetics, and gives them a chance to share the latest research and findings. This year 23andMe will present more than a dozen abstracts on a wide variety of topics and participate in two platform discussions. You can search all abstracts being presented at the meeting by going here.</p>
<h6>23andMe Presentations</h6>
<p>Along with findings related to drug development and genetic ancestry, 23andMe researchers are also presenting abstracts on wide variety of topics.</p>
<p>Among those are a series of studies that look at different human traits, their possible relation to certain health conditions as well as the dynamics of shared traits between parents and their children.</p>
<p>One of 23andMe’s abstracts looks at the genetics associated with being a ‘morning person’ and how that might be related to depression and weight. Another abstract looks at why some individuals are more prone to cry than others and whether genes that are associated with crying are also likely to be involved in brain development. Our scientists have also found genetic associations for varicose veins, which point to genes that are involved in circulatory development. Beyond how those traits may be related to health conditions, our researchers have also explored traits parents share with their children, finding that while for almost no trait did we see parents and children more likely to be dissimilar than similar, we did find that, mothers’ traits were more strongly correlated to their daughters, than the father’s traits were associated with their daughters.</p>
<h6>Research Data</h6>
<p>23andMe’s scientists will also be presenting on how researchers are able to use 23andMe’s database to make genetic discoveries. In addition we have another abstract that looks at a way our scientists have improved a long-used method for detecting shared DNA segments that researchers use to study everything from whether two people are related, to human demography – the characteristics of a population that might include its size, composition and distribution – and even the heritability of disease.</p>
<p>The work being presented at ASHG is part of 23andMe’s larger research mission. In the last three years, 23andMe scientists have published papers in peer-reviewed scientific journals and dozens of other findings that continue to push our understanding of genetics.</p>
<p>Here is a list of 23andMe abstracts as well as abstract for which we collaborated with others:</p>
<table style="background-color: #ffffcc; border-collapse: collapse; border: 1px solid #FFCC00; color: #000000; width: 100%;" cellspacing="3" cellpadding="3" border="1">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>&#8211; Like Mother, Like Daughter: Analysis of Parent-Child Phenotypic Correlations for Hundreds of Medical and Behavioral Traits<br />
<strong>Author(s):</strong> E. Pierson, D. Hinds, A. Kleinman, N. Eriksson</td>
<td>&#8211; Genes Involved in Brain Development Influence Crying Habits -A Genome Wide Association Study<br />
<strong>Author(s):</strong> C. Tian, C. Y. McLean, E. Y. Durand, N. Eriksson, J. Y. Tung, D. A. Hinds</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>&#8211; Adopting Genomes &#8211; Motivations of Adopted Persons when seeking Personal Genomic Services<br />
<strong>Author(s):</strong> N. M. Baptista, D. A. Carere, J. R. Duggan, T. A. Moreno, J. L. Mountain, S. A. Broadley, J. S. Roberts, R. C. Green, and the PGen Study Group</td>
<td>&#8211; The genetic ancestry of African, Latino, and European Americans across the United States<br />
<strong>Author(s):</strong> K. Bryc, E. Durand, D. Reich, J. Mountain</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>&#8211; Shared genetic background between chronic gastroesophageal reflux and Barrett’s esophagus and esophageal adenocarcinoma, consistent with a causal relationship<br />
<strong>Author(s):</strong> P. Gharahkhani, J. Tung, T. L. Vaughan, D. C. Whiteman, S. MacGregor, Barrett’s and Esophageal Adenocarcinoma Consortium</td>
<td>&#8211; A Large Scale Genome Wide Association Study of Varicose Veins in the 23andMe Cohort<br />
<strong>Author(s):</strong> R. K. Bell, E. Y. Durand, C. Y. McLean, N. Eriksson, J. Y. Tung, D. A. Hinds</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>&#8211; Reducing pervasive false positive identical-by-descent segments detected by large-scale pedigree analysis<br />
<strong>Author(s):</strong> E. Y. Durand, N. Eriksson, C. Y. McLean</td>
<td>&#8211; GWAS of 89,283 individuals identifies genetic variants associated with being a morning person<br />
<strong>Author(s): </strong>Y. Hu, A. Shmygelska, D. Tran, N. Eriksson, J. Tung, D. Hinds</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>&#8211; Accelerating Drug Development with 23andMe Phenome-Wide Association Studies<br />
<strong>Author(s):</strong> F. Sathirapongsasuti, B. T. Naughton, J. L. Mountain, D. A. Hinds, J. Y. Tung, C. Y. McLean</td>
<td>&#8211; Genetic discovery in the 23andMe participant cohort<br />
<strong>Author(s):</strong> D. A. Hinds, C. A. M. Northover, M. H. McIntyre, C. Wilson, K. E. Huber, A. Kleinman, F. Sathirapongsasuti, R. K. Bell, E. Pierson, K. Bryc, A. S. Shmygelska, N. A. Furlotte, Y. Hu, C. Tian, E. Y. Durand, C. Y. McLean, B. Naughton, J. L. Mountain, N. Eriksson, J. Y. Tung</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>&#8211; Genome-wide Mega-Analysis on Myopia and Refractive Error in CREAM and 23andMe<br />
<strong>Author(s):</strong> V. J. M. Verhoeven, R. Wojciechowski, P. G. Hysi, Q. Fan, A. K. Kiefer, N. Eriksson, C. J. Hammond, N. A. Furlotte, C. C. W. Klaver, Consortium for Refractive Error and Myopia (CREAM)</td>
<td>&#8211; Risk prediction and Type II Diabetes<br />
<strong>Author(s):</strong> N. Furlotte, S. Dandekar, R. Smith, N. Eriksson, D. Hinds</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>&#8211; A trans-ethnic genome-wide association study of 21,483 cases and 97,977 controls identifies 27 genetic susceptibility variants for atopic dermatitis<br />
<strong>Author(s):</strong> L. Paternoster, M. Standl, H. Baurecht, J. Waage, M. Hotze, J. A. Curtin, K. BÃ¸nnelykke, D. Glass, D. A. Hinds, E. Melen, P. Sleiman, B. Feenstra, M. Pino-Yanes, H. T. den Dekker, M. Bustamante, I. Marenholz, B. Jacobsson, A. D. Irvine, A. C. Alves, M. M. Groen-Blokhuis, A. Franke, M. Ferreira, M. Tamari, N. Probst-Hensch, K. Williams, D. P. Strachan, S. J. Brown, J. Heinrich, D. M. Evans, S. Weidinger on behalf of the EAGLE Eczema Consortium</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>

23andMe Blog

23andMe Blog Team

Science On the Beach

<p>As many as one-third of customers in a 23andMe survey reported some sort of side effect from a prescription or over-the-counter medication, according to data compiled by our researchers.<br />
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright wp-image-7843 size-medium" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/cartoon-pills-300x285.png" alt="" width="300" height="285" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/cartoon-pills-300x285.png 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/cartoon-pills.png 478w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /><br />
The results confirm that people often experience unintended effects from medication.</p>
<p>Most of the time those effects are minor, but many people reported <a href="https://blog.23andme.com/articles/impulse-control-disorder">side effects</a> severe enough to either stop taking a drug or prompt them to seek medical attention.</p>
<p>According to a more than decade-old study, <a href="https://www.fda.gov/drugs/developmentapprovalprocess/developmentresources/druginteractionslabeling/ucm110632.htm#ADRs:%20Prevalence%20and%20Incidence">“adverse drug reactions”</a> (also referred to as “ADRs”) are one of the leading causes of death in the U.S.</p>
<p>Other studies cited by the FDA indicate that more than 6 percent of hospitalizations are due to adverse drug reactions.</p>
<h2>Surveying Customers</h2>
<p>The survey done by 23andMe is part of ongoing research examining differences in how people react to the medication.</p>
<p>There are some caveats in the data and the accompanying graphic. For one, we don’t lump the drugs into classes – antibiotics, opiates, and NSAID, for example. In the case of sulfa drugs, we list Bactrim – a sulfa drug – on its own.</p>
<p>In part, it is because this reflects the actual responses filled in by customers. The survey included responses from 68,782 customers.</p>
<h2>Side Effects Reported</h2>
<p>Of those, more than 33 percent said they’d experienced side effects serious enough to either stop taking medication or that the side effects sent them to the hospital. The most commonly reported side effects were rashes, hives, nausea, vomiting, and pain. Also in the top ten were side effects such as difficulty breathing, depression, and anxiety.</p>
<p>Customers reported that penicillin, sulfa drugs, and codeine were most frequently reported to cause those side effects, the survey showed.</p>
<p>Understanding why we react differently to medication can help both patients and those prescribing medication to avoid those problems. Patient error, interactions with other drugs or supplements or allergic reactions are sometimes to blame, but genetics can also play a role.</p>
<h2>Reaction to Opioids</h2>
<p>At this year’s  American Society of Human Genetics meeting in Boston, a team of 23andMe scientists presented research showing a genetic association with opioid-induced vomiting.</p>
<p>Unlike many other pharmacogenetic studies that focus on very small cohorts, this study included more than 2,400 individuals who reported that the opioid codeine triggered vomiting. The study had about 10,000 controls, or individuals who reported no problems taking the pain medication.</p>
<p>Beyond the relative robustness of the study, the research is also significant in that it looked at the genetics behind moderate side effects to a prescription drug.</p>
<p>Rarely done in pharmacogenetic studies, moderate side effects still play a huge role in the relative effectiveness of medication because they impact whether people actually use the drug as prescribed.</p>

23andMe Customers’ Reported Side-Effects To Drugs

<p style="float: right; text-align: right; width: 315px;"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/doctorandpatientblog-300x199.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="199" /></p>
<p>Your doctor undoubtedly knows quite a lot. She went through four grueling years of medical school, passed a rigorous set of board exams, and completed at least one intensive residency in her specialty.</p>
<p>What may surprise you, however, is that she may not know much about pharmacogenetics, the study of how genetic variation affects drug response. Fortunately, she may recognize that this new field is quickly becoming an important part of medicine.</p>
<h2>Perceptions of Pharmacogenetics</h2>
<p>Felix Frueh, vice president of Medco Health Solutions and recently featured on our <a href="../articles/a-prescription-for-personalizing-medicine/">blog</a>, joined other scientists to survey physicians across the United States on their perceptions and use of pharmacogenetic testing.</p>
<p>This survey, the first large-scale assessment of pharmacogenetic attitudes and practices in the medical community, aimed to reach physicians across various ages, geographic locations, training backgrounds, and specialties.  They sent nearly 400,000 surveys, and approximately 3% were returned. After analyzing these thousands of responses, Frueh and his coworkers <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22278335" target="_" rel="noopener noreferrer">published</a> their findings in Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics last week.</p>
<h2>A Knowledge Gap</h2>
<p>The survey-based study simultaneously revealed an interest in and a lack of pharmacogenetics knowledge.</p>
<p>Almost every doctor who responded (97.6%) believed that genetic variation may influence drug response. This, however, stood in contrast to the small fraction of physicians (10.3%) who felt they had been adequately trained in pharmacogenetics. Fewer than one in three doctors had received formal field training.</p>
<p>According to the survey, most doctors primarily get their information about genetic testing from coworkers, drug labels and the Internet.  Not surprisingly, these doctors, many of whom felt under-trained and/or uncertain about the validity of the currently reported associations, did not use genetic testing very often.</p>
<p>Only about 13% said that they had ordered a genetic test for a patient in the last months; surprisingly, twice this number expect to order one in the next six months.  This projected increase in test orders may indicate a growing appreciation for the potential benefit of pharmacogenetic testing.</p>
<h2>An Opportunity</h2>
<p>Although the survey results indicate that most doctors do not regularly use genetic testing, the study did provide insights into which ones do.</p>
<p>As one might expect, doctors who received training in pharmacogenetics were about 1.6 times more likely to be early adopters of genetic testing. In addition, oncologists and surgeons (doctors in fields where pharmacogenetic testing is better established) were more likely to use genetic testing than general or family practitioners.  Furthermore, doctors in private practices were more likely to be early adopters than those working in a hospital or HMO.  A</p>
<p>ge and gender were not significantly associated with being an early adopter. However, physicians who had graduated from medical school 15-29 years ago were more likely to be early adopters than those who graduated more than 30 years ago.</p>
<h2>Reimbursement Question</h2>
<p>The growing popularity of genetic testing among physicians raises the question of who will pay for these new diagnostics. The doctors’ almost unanimous answer to this quandary was the health insurers. About a third of the responders felt that insurers- private, state, or federal- should provide full coverage for pharmacogenetic testing. Close to two-thirds felt insurers should provide full coverage in some situations. Indeed, approximately 9% of the doctors cited lack of insurance coverage for one of the primary reasons for not ordering tests.</p>
<p>Dr. Frueh and his coworkers acknowledge a potential bias in their study: the doctors most familiar with pharmacogenomics testing are also the doctors most likely to respond to a volunteer survey about pharmacogenomics.</p>
<p>The researchers, therefore, suggest that the actual percentages of doctors who received formal pharmacogenomic training and who regularly use genetic testing may be even lower than that predicted from the surveys.    Their conclusions from this study, especially in light of this potential bias, underscore the need for better pharmacogenetic education in the medical community.</p>

pharmacogenetics — Page 2

Science On the Beach

23andMe Customers’ Reported Side-Effects To Drugs

What Does Your Doctor Know About Genetic Testing For Drug Response?

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