Links between family history genes and diseases

Certain groups are more likely to get some diseases than other groups. We all have gene changes we get from our parents. Some we can trace back for generations. They are common in many people of the same race. Some gene changes are good. Some of them can make us more likely to get a disease. For example, African Americans have the highest rate of high blood pressure. Chinese women are at higher risk for lung cancer compared with other groups. But Latinos are less likely to get breast cancer. When you go to the doctor, they often ask you about your family history. They might also ask you with which race you identify. Or, someone from your doctor’s office or hospital might determine your race. You might have different races in your family history. You may identify as one race. But your genes will be a mixture of all the races in your family tree. Our genes can determine which drug will work best for us. Or if we are at a higher or lower risk for a disease. Scientists at Vanderbilt University Medical Center will look at how our family history affects our drug response or disease risk. They will use other resources to link common gene changes to disease risk too. This could help us learn in what part of the world certain diseases first started. It might also help us learn if our recent family history puts us at higher or lower risk for certain diseases. The goal is to learn more about gene changes. The more we know about gene changes, the better job we can do treating our patients.