In genetic control of disease, does 'race' matter?
David B Goldstein1
& Joel N Hirschhorn2
1
David B Goldstein is in the Department of Biology at Galton Labs, University College London, London, WC1E 6BT, UK.
2
Joel N. Hirschhorn is in the Divisions of Genetics and Endocrinology at Children's Hospital/Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA and in the Program in Medical and Population Genetics, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
As geneticists begin to identify gene variants associated with common diseases and responses to treatment, it is increasingly important to determine whether these variants have consistent effects across different 'racial' or 'ethnic' groups. Until recently, too little was known about either disease genetics or pharmacogenetics to make a detailed assessment. Now, a new study reviewing 43 disease-associated gene variants suggests that the effects of gene variants may be largely consistent across different 'racial' or 'ethnic' groups.
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