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Document Details : Title: Genetic polymorphisms and clinical practice: the example of osteoporosis Author(s): POLS HAP, UITTERLINDEN AG Journal: Acta Clinica Belgica Volume: 57 Issue: 5 Date: 2002 Pages: 266-270 DOI: 10.2143/ACB.57.5.1002814 Abstract : Over the past decades epidemiological research of so-called “complex” diseases, such as diabetes, osteoporosis, cancer, and cardiovascular disease, has identified a number of risk-factors for these common agerelated disorders. Examples include obesity for diabetes, low bone mineral density for osteoporosis, and smoking for cancer and cardiovascular disease. Some of these risk factors are used in clinical practice, for example to identify subjects-at-risk and for monitoring treatment of patients with these diseases. More recently, a novel class of risk factors, genetic polymorphisms, has gained considerable interest in this respect. This is mostly due to the Human Genome Project which has identified every human gene and also uncovered a plethora of polymorphic variants of these genes which embody the genetic risk factors. Genetic risk factors are expected to find applications in early identification of subjects-at-risk, prediction of response-to-treatment, and development of novel therapeutic options. We will here discuss some developments in the field of the genetics of osteoporosis. |
