Recreational genetics to help cure diseases

Hyderabad: Recreational genetics is a personalised genetic test done at private laboratories to understand the disease make-up in an individual’s family and look for measures of corrections in the genealogy through new drugs.

The need for genetic testing and new genetic therapeutic drugs is due to disorders arising from lifestyle choices and genetic disposition especially in the case of skin diseases, cancers and genetic predisposition to neurogenerative disorders

The first step taken by the Indian Council of Medical Research and department of biotechnology is to collate a data base of various groups of diseases in India, creating an avenue for advance genetic technology to tackle these diseases.

While these are only nascent steps being taken by the government, the private laboratories in the United States, Europe and also those having back end offices in India, are offering a range of facilities for testing and correction in the form of new drugs at the clinical trial level only for those who have a predisposition to genetic disorders.  

Dr Risha Nahar Lulla, genomic consultant and senior genetic counsellor, explained: “Families that have a history of certain diseases are coming forward for genetic testing. But there is also another set of people who are coming forward as they want to take preventive steps in terms of identifying the diseases that could run in the family. This kind of testing is termed ‘recreational genetics’ where the genetic traits and susceptibility for complex diseases are determined as a preventive measure. This is done only in private laboratories presently and it is totally based on the person’s wish to know their genes.”

These tests commonly focus on genetic risk which is non-modifiable in nature and comes from a pre-disposition to a disease due to the genetic make-up. With a wide range of genomic susceptibility markers available, many people want to identify diseases on time and take preventive steps.

Dr Syamala Aiyanger, senior consultant and diabetologist at Apollo Hospitals, said that clinical data in recreational genetics has provided information on the risk of developing cancers such as breast and skin, ratios for the risk of development of neuro-generative diseases, and also the ability to modify it with drugs. “Genetic recreational drugs are only at the clinical stage and more evidence and data is required for it to work. This is being viewed as the next evidence-based drug development but will take a lot of time. We need a lot of data and that is what most governments are working on collecting to then make a choice in terms of public health policy,” Dr Aiyangar said.

While genes are only one risk factor, there are others such as the environment, unhealthy lifestyle choices and chemicals in the food chain which could trigger the onset of diseases. People get a wake-up call when they find a family member suffering from a genetically predisposed disease, and that impels them to take preventive steps.