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Germline Genes and Drug Targets: Medicine more Proactive and Disease Prevention more Effective

Curators for a forthcoming article on Predictive Therapeutics:

• Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN and Larry H Bernstein, MD, FCAP – 

Reporter for the content, below:

• Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN 

A Perspective on Predictive Therapeutics by Larry H Bernstein, MD, FCAP

The approach is novel.  I am quite versed in vit D metabolism and in retinol and retinoids.

The articles should not be ads, but should lay out a hypothesis, proof of concept, and extension to therapeutics.

The germ-line concept as an alternative approach to somatic cell genomics is powerful.  Somatic mutations I have thought for some time come late, and are part of a cascade of changes that lead to adaptive mutational expression.

What he is proposing with respect to the identification of SNPs associated with key germ-line targets is unexpected, and I can’t comment on it, but it would tie in somewhat with the surprising and rapid progress being made with stem cells.  But the success with stem cells still does not have to deal with an organ system in a living animal or person.  It’s a long way to Tipperari!

His attack to the problem is by identifying key differentiation related SNPs, and to address the targets with known INDISPENSIBLE metabolic and nontoxic agents for pharmacotherapy.

I would not go so far as the statement that all disease is related to germline genomic expression, if that is an extension of the hypothesis.  But it does bring together the functional concept of disordered metabolism related to germline SNP expression in a broader sense than just cancer, and perhaps related to immune tolerance, TLR receptors, and a number of chronic diseases.  It is an interesting divergence.

There is sufficient complexity in life processes that I can’t really conceptualize how he puts this all together.

About the Pioneer @ GenoMed, Inc.

Physician-scientist who identified angiotensin I-converting enzyme (ACE) as a “master” disease gene; President and CEO of GenoMed; St. Louis, MO

David W. Moskowitz, MD- Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, and Chief Medical Officer
Dr. Moskowitz majored in Chemistry (summa cum laude) at Harvard College, Biochemistry (first class honours) at Merton College, Oxford, and received an MD (cum laude) from the Harvard-MIT Division in Health Sciences and Technology (Harvard Medical School). He trained for 7 years in Internal Medicine, Biochemistry, and Nephrology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis before spending 11 years on the faculty of St. Louis University School of Medicine. Since 1994, Dr. Moskowitz has experienced first hand the clinical effectiveness of knowing a disease-associated gene (the angiotensin converting enzyme, or ACE, gene). Dr. Moskowitz is a pioneer in the field of medical genomics, and has been recognized for his groundbreaking treatment of diseases associated with the angiotensin I-converting enzyme, such as chronic renal failure due to hypertension or type II diabetes.

VIEW VIDEO

http://www.genomed.com/about-us.html

GenoMed is a Next Generation DMtm company that uses medical genomics to improve patient outcomes. GenoMed is working to translate knowledge of medical genomics–the study of which genes cause disease–into clinical practice. We combine biotechnology with Disease Management (DM). We develop new and better drugs, we use existing drugs for new disease indications, and we uncover disease before symptoms arise. By studying disease genes, we hope to make medicine more proactive and disease prevention more effective.

Drug discovery: Once GenoMed identifies a disease gene without any existing therapy, the company pursues strategic alliances with large, research-oriented pharmaceutical companies to develop new drugs against the target.

Using existing drugs for new clinical indications: Occasionally, knowing a disease gene can make an existing drug more effective. For example, GenoMed has demonstrated that a proprietary regimen of an existing ACE inhibitor can dramatically delay the progression of end-stage kidney disease due to Type 2 diabetes or hypertension in both African American and Caucasian men, as well as the progression of peripheral vascular disease, and even emphysema. This is the first time an ACE inhibitor has been found to be useful for emphysema.

Gene-based diagnostic tests: Knowing the genes which cause a disease allows a physician to diagnose that disease before symptoms ever become visible. In clinical medicine, the earlier the diagnosis, the better the clinical outcome.

GenoMed was inspired by Dr. David Moskowitz’s research on the angiotensin I-converting enzyme (ACE) gene during the mid 1990s. His lab discovered that ACE was a “master” disease gene. ACE was found to be associated with about 160 common, serious diseases such as type 2 diabetes, common cancers (except for prostate and breast), and psychiatric diseases. Moskowitz, a nephrologist, treated 1,000 of his own patients based on his knowledge of diseases caused in part by ACE. His early efforts produced dramatic results — the rate of progression of kidney disease due to high blood pressure was reduced by an average of 300% in both African American and Caucasian male patients. Through this new treatment, patients who normally reached dialysis in 4 years were not predicted to reach end-stage kidney disease for 16 years. Patient outcomes for kidney failure due to type 2 diabetes, atherosclerotic peripheral vascular disease, and emphysema (COPD) were equally exciting. In February 2001 Moskowitz founded GenoMed with the help of industry veterans Jerry White, Richard Kranitz and Peter Brooks.

GenoMed guarantees the best outcomes in the medical literature for diabetes, high blood pressure (also called “hypertension”), COPD (also called “emphysema”), sickle cell disease, or your money back! (more info…)

The best outcomes in the medical literature, or it’s free™.

SOURCE

http://www.genomed.com/

Help us make the world dialysis-free by 2020.

Technology and Approach

GenoMed’s primary scientific initiative consists of its SNPnet©. The SNPnet©™ is the set of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) GenoMed uses to locate disease genes. We use a fishing metaphor since finding disease genes is like fishing for a handful of letters in an ocean of three billion letters. Our SNPnet© is currently made up of over 80,000 SNPs and covers the entire human genome. Once the disease genes are identified, disease-associated SNPs will be placed onto a single DNA chip, the HealthChip®, for clinical diagnostic testing.

Targeted Diseases

Diseases with Published Superior Clinical Outcomes*:

• Sickle Cell Disease
• Kidney failure due to type 2 (“adult onset”) diabetes
• Kidney failure due to high blood pressure
• Emphysema (“COPD”)
• Poor circulation due to high blood pressure

* see Moskowitz, “ACE Example”

If you would like information about subscribing to our Clinical Outcomes Improvement Program (COIP®) for one of the above diseases, then Contact GenoMed.

Diseases in Clinical Trials:

• Cancer (of any organ, any stage, including leukemias and lymphomas)
• HIV
• SARS
• Influenza
• Hepatitis (A, B, and C)
• Multiple sclerosis
• Alopecia
• Psoriasis (see Moskowitz, “Role of ACE”)
• Chronic fatigue syndrome/fibromyalgia
• Lupus
• Rheumatoid Arthritis
• Alzheimer’s Disease
• Parkinson’s Disease
• ALS (“Lou Gehrig’s Disease”)
• Age-related macular degeneration
• Glaucoma
• West Nile virus (see Moskowitz, “Role of ACE”)

Pre-Clinical Research (looking for disease-predisposition genes):
Currently collections are underway or scheduled for the following diseases:

All Cancers
GenoMed would be delighted to discuss collaborations with qualified groups that are dedicated to solving specific diseases

Clinical Outcomes Improvement Program (COIP®)

PATIENTS