中国基因专家寻找针对糖尿病的答案
中国深圳（路透社） -中国科学家正试图找出哪些不定基因是负责糖尿病和某些长期困扰中国人群的癌症的，一名遗传学家表示。
近几十年来，由于社会的日趋富裕，更为丰富的饮食和久坐的生活方式导致了中国糖尿病病例以惊人的速度增加，而癌症中，食道癌，肺癌，乳腺癌，胃癌和结肠癌已经困扰了中国人更长的时间。
部分由国家资助的北京基因组学研究所（BGI），于2007年绘制完成了第一中国人类基因组图，目前正设法找出哪些基因负责这些慢性病，甚至致命的病。
“我们正在建立疾病基因图谱，以期在中国人群中找到某些疾病的诱因（基因）变种，”高阳说。他是BGI深圳分公司的副总经理，该分公司主要负责第一中国人的基因组的测序。
“我们最感兴趣的是糖尿病和五种类型的癌症”。
BGI正与中国医院就癌症的项目进行合作，并与外资机构就糖尿病方面进行合作。
“我们将对医院提供DNA样本测序，”高在一个周末的采访中告诉路透社记者。
中国医生现在依据西方的数据作诊断，并决定用药，如高所说，这是远远不够理想的。
“例如，当决定如何对中国乳腺癌患者用药时，重要的一点是要考虑她的遗传组成，从诊断到药物剂量，那可能是非常不同的，”高说道。
“我们用自己的数据，可以将药物个人化，即使是同一种疾病，如果有一个不同的遗传组成，可能就需要一个不同的药物或剂量”。
马上翻译!
大熊猫基因组测序
该研究所目前正在绘制中国大熊猫的基因组图谱，“我们可以利用这些信息，来更好地保护这一濒危物种，并了解它的进化，”高说道。
该研究所也着眼于一些传染性病原，如B型肝炎和人类乳头状瘤病毒（HPV），它们是令中国人头疼的问题，虽然更好或更快的治疗手段可能需要数十年时间找到。
亚洲普遍忽视了B型肝炎——世界上的第10大死亡诱因。慢性B型肝炎的影响着全球3.6亿人，其中281万在亚洲。
四分之一的人会在后半生死于肝硬化，或肝脏结疤，或肝癌。
人类乳突病毒是子宫颈癌的一个主要诱因。
“我们希望能发明更好的（便宜的）检测工具。目前，HPV检测试剂盒相当昂贵，而人乳头状瘤病毒感染主要发生在贫困地区，”高说。
“至于B型肝炎病毒，抗药性很强，因此，我们必须设计更敏感又更经济的诊断工具。通过病毒测序，我们可以看到它如何变异，如此才能设计出更好的药物，”他说。
专家说， 有10％ 的中国13亿以上的人口携带B型肝炎病毒，在南方某些地方，这个数字甚至高达16 ％。
SHENZHEN, China (Reuters) - Chinese scientists are trying to find out which errant genes are responsible for diabetes and certain forms of cancer that have long plagued Chinese populations, a geneticist said.
Rising affluence, richer diets and a sedentary lifestyle have led to an alarming rise in cases of diabetes in China in recent decades, while cancers of the esophagus, lungs, breast, stomach and colon have plagued Chinese people for a much longer time.
The partly state-funded Beijing Genomics Institute (BGI), which completed the mapping out of the first Chinese human genome in 2007, is trying to figure out which genes may be responsible for these chronic and even terminal illnesses.
"We are doing disease gene mapping, to find causal (gene) variants for certain diseases in Chinese populations," said Gao Yang, vice general manager of BGI's Shenzhen branch, which was mainly responsible for the sequencing of the first Chinese genome.
"We are most interested in diabetes and five types of cancer."
BGI is collaborating with Chinese hospitals on the cancer project and foreign institutions on diabetes.
"We will be sequencing DNA samples provided by hospitals," Gao told Reuters in a weekend interview.
Chinese doctors now rely on western data when making diagnoses and deciding on drug protocols, which Gao said was far from ideal.
"When deciding how to administer drugs to a Chinese breast cancer patient, for example, it's important to consider her genetic makeup. From diagnosis to drug dosage, it may be a very different story," said Gao.
"With our own data, we can have personalized medicine. Even if it's the same disease, you may need a different drug or dosage if you have a different genetic makeup."
SEQUENCING THE PANDA GENOME
The institute is currently mapping out the genome of China's giant panda. "We may use the information to better protect this endangered species and understand its evolution," said Gao.
The institute also has its eye on a few infectious agents, such as the Hepatitis B and human papilloma viruses (HPV) that are especially problematic for Chinese populations -- although a better or faster cure may be decades away.
Asia is largely ignorant about Hepatitis B, the 10th leading cause of death worldwide. Chronic Hepatitis B affects 360 million people globally, and of these, 281 million are in Asia.
One in four will die from either cirrhosis, or scarring of the liver, or liver cancer later in life.
HPV is a major cause of cervical cancer.
"We want to develop better (and less expensive) detection tools. For now, HPV detection kits are very expensive and HPV infections mainly take place in poorer areas," Gao said.
"As for Hepatitis B virus, drug resistance is serious, so we need to design more sensitive and cost effective diagnostic tools. By sequencing the virus, we can see how it is mutating, so that better drugs can be designed," he said.
Experts say 10 percent of China's more than 1.3 billion population carry the Hepatitis B virus, with the figure reaching as high as 16 percent in certain parts in the south.
