Wow! Look what someone just did!

Read "More Genes Discovered That May Contribute to Breast Cancer Risk" by Rick Weiss in The Washington Post, May 28, 2007.

The article describes a study that compared the frequency of more than one million gene variants between a sample of 3,000 women who had breast cancer versus 3,000 women who had not been diagnosed with breast cancer. The study found several alleles that were correlated with increase risk of breast cancer.

The point I would make is the power of automated genetic analysis combined with automatic data processing. Combining the two may well offer amazing new insights into the causes of and susceptibility to cancer.

A recent Charlie Rose show was devoted to a panel discussion of scientific leaders about stem cell research. I was convinced that this research has exceptional promise. One of the panelists suggested that the scientific excitement created in the biomedical research community was comparable to that created by the new genetic research opportunities in the 1980's and 1990's. The panelists thought that for the first time, there were really promising approaches to learning about, doing research on, and finding treatments for degenerative diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases and Alzheimer's disease. They also suggested the possibilities of far better treatments for autoimmune diseases such as Type I diabetes and organ loss, such as improved approaches to bone marrow transplants.

It looks as if there will be major advances in medical knowledge and technology in future decades that will allow people to live much healthier lives, especially as they get older. While there may be an extension of life, there is likely to be a more rapid extension of DALYs -- Disability Adjusted Life Years. During the 20th century, life expectancy in the United States increased by about four months per year. That was for the who century! We live on the average more than 30 years longer than people alive in 1900.

That gain was largely as a result of reducing the communicable disease burden that killed so many children. The new frontiers of medicine will be to improve life expectancy, not just in the sense of living longer but also living better, by combating the diseases of aging. Maybe, we can even convince people to eat right, exercise, give up smoking and other bad habits, and take care of themselves!

Of course, we will probably see the medical costs go up as expensive new therapies tailored to the individuals genes and cellular structures are created and applied to an expanding population of old and very old people. Us old folk have a lot of resources and a lot of time, and so we have a lot of political power. I suspect we will not want to go back to work, but will want society to pay for our medical treatment and for our life styles. I hope there will be enough younger workers coming into the workforce to make that burden not too excessive.