"I always thought that drinking alcohol was not a big deal, but after doing genetic testing, I found out that my alcohol metabolism is particularly poor. For the sake of health, you must not drink alcohol in the future! On May 13, after completing the genetic testing of individualized medication at the Municipal Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine (Municipal People's Hospital), Mr. Shi said.
Mr. Shi usually drinks half a glass of red wine will have symptoms such as flushing, rapid heartbeat, rash and other suspected "alcohol allergy", after learning that the Municipal Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine (Municipal People's Hospital) launched an individualized drug genetic testing project in April this year, he took the initiative to do alcohol metabolism testing.
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The test results showed that Mr. Shi was "homozygous mutant of the aldehyde dehydrogenase metabolism gene (ALDH2)", that is, "very poor alcohol metabolism". According to the test report, the doctor advised him not to drink alcohol in case of tachycardia, impaired liver function, alcohol poisoning and other problems.
Fan Dengfeng, director of the hospital's pharmacy department, said that personalized drug genetic testing is part of precision medical services, and the patient's blood or oral swab can be collected to collect oral exfoliated cells for testing. By interpreting pharmacogenomics databases, it is possible to assess an individual's rate of drug metabolism, sensitivity, and safety. Referring to the results of genetic testing, doctors can formulate individualized plans for patients in terms of health guidance, drug selection, dose control, and combination of drugs, so as to improve drug efficacy, reduce drug toxicity and side effects, and prevent related diseases.
Fan Dengfeng said that alcohol metabolism ability testing is one of the personalized drug genetic tests. The amount of alcohol depends on the metabolic ability of alcohol in the human body, and the metabolic ability of alcohol depends on the enzyme activity of metabolizing alcohol, which is determined by genes.
The results of alcohol metabolism were divided into three conditions: "normal type" indicated normal alcohol metabolism, "ALDH2 heterozygous mutation" indicated poor alcohol metabolism, and "ALDH2 homozygous mutation" indicated poor alcohol metabolism.
Fan Dengfeng explained that people with genetic mutations tend to accumulate acetaldehyde (a first-class carcinogen) in the body after drinking alcohol, which causes vasodilation leading to sweating, dysphonia, nausea and tachycardia, telangiectasia, and then blushing. More seriously, the long-term accumulation of acetaldehyde can kill liver cells and can also lead to cirrhosis or liver cancer, so patients with homozygous mutant genes should try not to drink alcohol, and people with normal metabolism should also control alcohol consumption to prevent unnecessary risks. In addition, the ALDH2 gene can be involved in the metabolism of nitroglycerin and alcohol, respectively, so the metabolism of nitroglycerin in people with poor alcohol metabolism is also significantly reduced, and sublingual nitroglycerin may be ineffective, and the drug regimen needs to be adjusted.
In addition to alcohol metabolism testing, the hospital also carries out cardiovascular risk factor testing, folic acid metabolism testing, and pregnancy eclampsia risk testing. In the future, we will continue to increase the types of personalized drug genetic testing, such as Alzheimer's disease risk testing, mental illness risk testing, etc.
"The benefits of personalized medication genetic testing are manifold." Fan Dengfeng said that for patients, a test is beneficial for life, and patients do not need to repeat the relevant gene locus testing; For hospitals, encouraging patients to undergo relevant genetic testing can promote more scientific and reasonable clinical medication, truly realize "one person, one drug, one dose", and improve the overall drug treatment level of hospitals; For the society, precision drug use is conducive to reducing medical insurance costs, saving medical resources, and reducing social burden.
Tips
Individualized Medication Genetic Testing Process
Step 1: Outpatients can go to the blood collection room of the laboratory department to have a test order issued by the doctor. Inpatients can have their blood collected directly in the inpatient department; People who have undergone physical examination can collect blood at the physical examination center according to the physical examination package (no fasting required).
Step 2: Wait 2 to 3 business days for test results to be available.
Step 3: The clinical pharmacist will feedback the test results (report) to the clinician, and the two parties will jointly formulate an individualized medication plan or health guidance plan for the patient.
Source: Karamay financial media reporter Zhang Bing correspondent Wang Hailin