Active clinical trials for "Genetic Predisposition to Disease"

Patients with inflammatory back pain were shown to differ from healthy controls in genotype of the Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE), which regulates vasoconstriction/-dilatation. The aim of this study is to investigate whether genetic reduction of muscle perfusion might be a pathophysiological pathway of how genes influence chronic non-specific low back pain (LBP).

Schizophrenia (Schizophrenia,Sc), biphasic affective disorder (Bipolar disorder,BPD), major depression (major depressive disorder,MDD), anxiety disorder (Anxiety disorder,An) and other mental disorders have obvious family aggregation, with heritability of 60 -90%. This kind of common mental illness seriously affects the psychosomatic health and quality of life of patients, and places a great mental and economic burden on the society and family. At present, the diagnosis of mental illness is mainly based on clinical symptoms. With the development of molecular biology, genomics has become a new way to study mental illness. MicroRNA (miRNA) is a class of eukaryotic endogenously non-coding single-stranded RNA, which can regulate gene expression by binding to specific mRNA or regulating the protein translation process of specific mRNA. MiRNA widely exists in plasma and serum, and the type and quantity of miRNA in plasma and serum change with different physiological and disease conditions. It is reported that the expression profile of miRNA in brain tissue of schizophrenia is significantly different from that of normal subjects. In addition, the study found that the specific miRNA detected in peripheral blood can directly reflect the condition of the disease, which may use miRNA in peripheral blood as a clinical biological marker. In order to detect the expression of various miRNA in plasma, high throughput miRNA chip detection has become the first choice for primary screening. In this study, the investigators intend to detect the difference of miRNA expression in peripheral blood of different types of schizophrenia by high throughput miRNA chip, and analyze the correlation between them. It is hoped to provide the basis for the diagnosis and occurrence and development of clinical psychotic patients.

The main objective is to identify in the candidate regions of differentially expressed genes by comparing the transcriptome of dendritic cells derived from circulating monocytes between cases and controls. Cases and family controls will be matched on the presence of HLA-B27 and depending on haplotype association studies to correlate the differences of gene expression and genetic variations with susceptibility to AS.

Transversal multicentric French study on the microbiota in patients with Crohn's disease and their first degree healthy relatives The primary objective is the comparison of microbiota between patients with CD, healthy controls non genetically linked and first degree healthy relatives of patients with CD.

Currently, many breast center patients with a positive family history receive information about BRCA testing after breast cancer diagnosis, typically after definitive breast surgery or at a time point that does not allow them to use testing results in making their surgical decision. Diagnostics, decisions and interventions are often out of sequence, resulting in test information not available in time for decisions. Tests are often repeated. Decisions and interventions are delayed, are not understood by breast cancer patients or proceed without the test information, resulting in suboptimal care and resource waste (Donaldson MS. 2005, Katz SJ 2007, IOM 2001). In this study, BRCA testing information will be delivered to patients at the point of breast imaging. For patients that are diagnosed with breast cancer, this provides ample time to use the test results in making their surgical decision, if they elect to be tested. The investigators will work with health care providers to insure family history data are collected at the breast imaging visit, develop a standardized BRCA patient education handout, enlist health care providers to insure the information is delivered to the appropriate patient population, and coordinate scheduling with genetic counseling services to insure patients are promptly seen. The investigators hypothesis is that an intervention of providing patients indicated for genetic/familial risk with timely information and opportunity to access genetic counseling during breast imaging will shift BRCA testing to before definitive breast cancer surgery, for patients with a breast cancer diagnosis, and could impact surgical decisions. The investigators will identify barriers to this intervention from the perspective of patients, physicians, nurses, and genetic counselors. The investigators will then adjust the intervention to overcome the barriers and will test the intervention at the point where genetic/familial risk assessment based on NCCN guidelines is (or should be) conducted at breast imaging. If indicated, patients will be provided information and will be referred to genetic counseling to consider BRCA tests.

This will be a population based study looking at the prevalence of thyroid disorders in Malaysia (including hypo- and hyperthyroidism, subclinical hypo- or hyperthyroidism) and its association with different ethnicity and iodine status. The study will also look at genetic susceptibility for autoimmune thyroid disorders in the Malaysian population General hypotheses: The prevalence of thyroid disorders in Malaysia is 10% for hypothyroidism and 2% for hyperthyroidism Hypo- and hyperthyroidism is associated with iodine status in our population There are different susceptibility gene for autoimmune thyroid disorder in different ethnicity in our population

This study will identify which regions on the genes, and genes themselves, may account for an increased risk of end stage renal disease (ESRD), that is, near-total loss of kidney function, for people of African American descent. Researchers will use a technique called admixture linkage disequilibrium (MALD) to study genomes, genetic material, in about 2,500 participants from two existing studies and participants who will serve as controls. ESRD disproportionately affects African Americans, who constitute 29% of all ESRD patients in the Medicare ESRD program. The disease can result from a variety of diseases, with diabetes as the leading underlying cause (44% of cases) and hypertension as the second leading cause (26%). The proportion of ESRD cases caused by diabetes has increased dramatically. Patients age 18 and older who are African American, who have ESRD, and who are participants of the FIND and CHOICE studies may be eligible for this study. FIND, or Family Investigation of Diabetes and Nephropathy, involves a multicenter study to identify susceptibility genes, that is, those with a risk, for diabetic and other forms of kidney disease. CHOICE, or Choices for Healthy Outcomes in Caring for ESRD patients is an ongoing study that identifies risk factors for cardiovascular outcomes in ESRD patients. The principle of mapping by MALD involves genetic variations that exist across populations. When mixing occurs between populations having different (heterogeneous) genes, the admixed offspring inherits chromosomes of distinct ancestry. However, over generations of mating, and recombination over several generations, originally large blocks of DNA from African ancestry have become part of smaller segments throughout the chromosome. The study will focus on risk alleles, that is, alternative forms of genes that carry a disease risk. Risk alleles are closely related to nearby ancestral gene markers found in a person. Patients will undergo a collection of blood and urine for genetic testing. Researchers are conducting separate analyses in this study. Case-control analysis of ESRD will consist of 1,150 participants from FIND and 250 from CHOICE. There will also be 750 control participants from FIND. For the case-control analysis of diabetic ESRD, there will be about 750 participants from FIND, 125 from CHOICE, and 750 controls from FIND. Finally, there is the quantitative trait analysis, which looks at the phenotype-meaning visible characteristics produced by the interaction of a person's genetic makeup with the environment. That analysis will involve 350 patients with diabetic nephropathy but not ESRD and 750 controls from FIND.

The identification and characterization of susceptibility loci for H5N1 infection in humans could have profound implications. The detection of host genetic factors may shed light on key pathogenic interactions between H5N1 and human cells, assisting in identifying the viral characteristics determining pandemic potential. In addition, the identification and verification of susceptibility loci would be followed by functional studies which might point the way to new therapeutic and preventive options. The objective of this study is to investigate if host genetic factors are associated with susceptibility to influenza H5N1 illness

We propose to add a collection of genetic material to a clinical trial of anti-oxidant supplementation for the amelioration of asthma in 7-12 year olds being conducted at a public pediatric hospital in Mexico City. The anti-oxidant study has been approved by the Institutional Review Board of the National Institute of Public Health in Mexico City and is scheduled to begin in September 1998. The purpose of this add-on study is to examine genetic polymorphisms that may be related to asthma. Asthma cases will be compared with their parents as controls. In partaicular, we will save the buffy coat from the blood collection being done on the asthmatic child for measurements of plasma micronutrients in the anti-oxidant trial for extraction of DNA. This part of the sample would otherwise be discarded. In addition, we will enroll the parents of the asthmatic child as controls for the child. From the parents, either a 10 ml blood sample or if they prefer, a sample of buccal cells will be collected. Although our current plan is to compare the asthmatic child to the parents using statistical methods based on the "transmission disequilibrium test" because research into various family designs for candidate gene studies is rapidly evolving and various sibling control sample strategies have been discussed, we would also like to collect a genetic sample on as many of the child's siblings as possible with priority given to those closest in age. This will enhance the future usefulness of the samples. We anticipate enrolling approximately 200 families....

The role of Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy(SLNB) among mutation-negative BC patients is well established; however, we are lacking data to assess the role of sentinel lymph node biopsy for patients who are undergoing surgery for prophylactic reasons without proven malignancy. Literature has reported a positive Occult Breast Cancer (OBC) rate of 0 to 11.3% among mastectomy specimens which are removed prophylactically. Majority of the time when the invasive focus is diagnosed in prophylactic mastectomy specimens they are found to be in-situ cases where axillary Staging using SLNB can be exempted; however, when the OBC is identified even in prophylactic mastectomy specimens, axilla should be addressed accordingly. Albeit SLNB has associated complications with it; postoperative pain, lymphedema, paresthesia and rare reaction to the injected dye. Therefore the question here arises regarding skipping SLNB among patients who are undergoing PRRMs without proven malignancy pre-operatively. However, before standardizing the practice in our population we need convincing evidence that the frequency of OBC is low among our patients. By identifying the true prevalence of OBC among our gene-positive HBC patients who are opting for PRRM, we would be able to skip SLNB; as not only it has psychological implications but also adds a financial burden on patients and families due to the addition of an extra procedure and hospital bills; as the financial and socioeconomic status of our population has already declined over last few years due to the economic crises faced worldwide, specifically after-affects are seen in Lower Middle-Income Country(LMIC) like Pakistan.