Immunogenetics Contribution to Health Science
The contribution made by Immunogenetics toward the field of medicine and health cannot be measured with a few glowing words; it is invaluable and has changed the face of medicine forever. Despite its profound new impacts toward medicine, it is still a relatively new field. Many research developments are still underway and previous discovers have yet to make their full impressions upon medicine today.
Immunogenetics ties the science of genetics with the field of immunology. In a more specific sense, the field brings together genetics, the science of transferring characteristics from one generation to another, and immunology, the science of how the immune system repels foreign organisms and objects like bacteria and viruses. What has accelerated the growth of this field is both the advancements made in molecular biology and the sequencing of the human genome. Immunogenetics brings the two fields together so immune diseases can be better understood with the field of genetics, and perhaps even offer insight about treating such diseases.
Immunogenetics have brought a better understanding towards clinical diseases that have an immunological basis and are well understood clinically, but poorly understood on the therapeutic and scientific level. Diseases with an immunologic basis, such as type I diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, and multiple sclerosis are being investigated with this approach. Some theories about these diseases are being validated, while others are being proved wrong. For instance, multiple sclerosis was thought to have a genetic basis that was caused by a mutation in a gene sequence. Immunogenetics has shown that though the disease has a genetic basis, it is not solely caused by such a mutation. Instead, the genetics of individuals may determine what environmental factors can trigger an episode of multiple sclerosis in individuals with certain gene mutations.
The field of genetic therapy has also received a boost from immunogenetics. The long-term dream of many geneticists and immunologists has been to deliver personalized gene therapy. Immmunogenetics role in this type of therapy is to help identify certain genes that may contribute towards a certain disease, and use immunology to attack and alter a person’s genes in order to cure the disease caused by that gene. This type of therapy is also being researched for other deadly viral illnesses, like HIV. As immunogenetics advances rapidly, this once-distant goal may be a reality in the near future.
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