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A Strategy to Identify de Novo Mutations in Common Disorders such as Autism and Schizophrenia
Published on: June 15, 2011
The balance between heritable and environmental aetiology of human disease
Kari Hemminki1, Justo Lorenzo Bermejo, Asta Försti
1Division of Molecular Genetic Epidemiology, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Im Neuenheimer Feld 580, D-69120 Heidelberg, Germany. k.hemminki@dkfz.de
Abstract:
The Human Genome Project and the ensuing International HapMap Project were largely motivated by human health issues. But the distance from a DNA sequence variation to a novel disease gene is considerable; for complex diseases, closing this gap hinges on the premise that they arise mainly from heritable causes. Using cancer as an example of complex disease, we examine the scientific evidence for the hypothesis that human diseases result from interactions between genetic variants and the environment.
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