[Use of molecular biology techniques in clinical research, in Chile]

Medical investigation in Chile is beginning to apply molecular biology methods as diagnostic tools and in studies establishing the prevalence of pathologies with Mendelian or multifactorial genetic origin. In this way, we are getting nearer to the strategies used worldwide for these purposes. Two studies published in this journal, one about hemophilia A where an analysis of intron-18 and intron-7 of the Factor VIII gene was applied as strategy for the diagnosis of carrier state in a Chilean population, and the other one about insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus in Santiago, Chile, with an analysis from immunogenetics to some environmental risk factors, constitute good examples about this integration.