Developing precision medicine for people of East Asian descent.
The goal of precision medicine is to separate patient populations into groups to ultimately provide customized care tailored to patients. In terms of precision medicine, ~540 million people in the world have a genetic variant of the aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (ALDH2) enzyme causing a flushing response and tachycardia after alcohol consumption. The genetic variant is identified as ALDH2*2 and originates from East Asian descendants of the Han Chinese. The variant is particularly important to consider when discussing lifestyle choices with patients in terms of risk for developing specific diseases, preventative screening, and selection of medications for treatment. Here we provide examples why patients with an ALDH2*2 variant need more individualized medical management which is becoming a more standard practice in the precision medicine era.
Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine, School of Medicine, Stanford University, 300 Pasteur Drive, Grant Building, Room S290, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA.
Stacy L
SL
McAllister
Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine, School of Medicine, Stanford University, 300 Pasteur Drive, Grant Building, Room S290, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA.
Katherine
K
Sun
Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine, School of Medicine, Stanford University, 300 Pasteur Drive, Grant Building, Room S290, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA. ergross@stanford.edu.
Eric R
ER
Gross
D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D000071396:Aldehyde Dehydrogenase, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics*; D044466:Asian People / Q000235:genetics; D002681:China; D005483:Flushing / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D014644:Genetic Variation; D006801:Humans; D057285:Precision Medicine; D013610:Tachycardia / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology
C096127:ALDH2 protein, human; D000071396:Aldehyde Dehydrogenase, Mitochondrial
ALDH2; Acetaldehyde; Aldehyde; Aldehyde dehydrogenase 2; Cancer; East Asian; Esophageal; Nitroglycerin; Precision medicine