Spring is about to, well, spring.  And for many of us, that means breaking out the Benadryl® and the tissues as pollen fills the air and our allergies kick in.

Allergies are part of the daily lives for one out of four Americans, making allergies more common than heart disease, cancer and diabetes combined.  For many people, allergies involve only symptoms that are a nuisance, like sneezing or itchy eyes.  But for some, contact with certain substances can lead to life-threatening anaphylactic shock.  To study this mysterious and growing problem, we’ve released our first allergy survey.

Allergies occur when your body reacts to a normally harmless substance, called an allergen, like it’s a dangerous invader.  Your immune system produces IgE antibodies that recognize the allergen and trigger the release of histamines.  While histamines normally help protect your body against infections, they can cause allergy symptoms when released inappropriately.  This is why many allergy medications are called “anti-histamines”.

The biological process of how symptoms occur after the release of histamines is relatively well-understood, but the question of why the immune systems of people with allergies react to otherwise inoffensive substances like pollen or peanuts remains.  There is a growing body of evidence that supports the “hygiene hypothesis.”  This theory says that our immune systems need early exposure to parasites like roundworms and tapeworms to mature properly.  Without such exposure the risk of developing allergies is increased.  This fits with the observation that allergies are more common and generally on the rise in industrialized countries where parasite infections are far less common than in the developing world.

It is also clear, however, that genetics play a large role in whether you develop allergies.  Having a family history of allergy puts you at much higher risk for also having an allergy, although it may not be the same type. For example, a family history of asthma, which is a type of allergic disease in most cases, puts you at higher risk for a food allergy. While a few genes have been shown to be associated with allergy, the genetic picture is far from complete.  If by learning more about the genetics of allergy we could help predict which children may be more likely to develop a dangerous food allergy for example, precautionary measures could be taken.  In addition, we may discover better ways to treat different allergies.

At best, allergies are annoying.  At worst, they’re deadly.  You can help us take the first steps to understanding the genetics of allergy by completing our new allergy survey.  In the meantime, I’ll be investing in Kleenex!

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By now, you’re probably sick of hearing about the 2009 H1N1 flu, also known as the swine flu.  But if you believe you’ve had it, and you’ve already recovered from your symptoms, please take a few minutes to complete our new survey.

There have been heard reports of people holding “swine flu parties” in hopes of getting the “mild form” of the H1N1 virus.  But there’s really only one H1N1 virus out there.  Any variability has to do with how people’s bodies are reacting to it. (BTW: The CDC says this is one kind of party you definitely want to skip!)

Some who’ve been infected with H1N1 have suffered from nothing more than a few miserable days stuck in bed.  For others, the virus has caused severe illness resulting in hospitalization and even death.  Some of these differences have to do with age, gender and pre-existing disease burden.

But there are probably genetic factors at work too. A study published just today shows that human cells have proteins that seem to be natural flu fighters.  The researchers who made this discovery suggest that genetic changes that affect the levels of these proteins could determine different levels of vulnerability to the H1N1 virus.

By asking our large and diverse group of customers about their experiences with the flu, and then correlating this information with their genetics, 23andMe hopes to help scientists continue to unravel the mysteries of H1N1.  Genetic markers indicating a propensity for an especially severe reaction to the flu could someday be used to identify people in need of extra attention during outbreaks.  And learning more about the flu in general might lead to new management strategies that could benefit us all.  So please, take a few minutes to answer our H1N1 Survey.

P.S. If you don’t think you’ve had the swine flu this year, don’t worry – there are plenty of other surveys for you to take.  You can always participate in this new survey if you do happen to get sick (though we hope you don’t!).

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From alchemists and the Philosopher’s Stone to Ponce de Leon and the Fountain of Youth, history is full of stories of people searching for a way to extend life indefinitely.  In recent years, discoveries about the biology of aging have brought us closer to that dream than ever before.  Now 23andMe is asking you, our customers, to help push science even further by participating in our new Longevity Survey.

Human life expectancy is now close to 78 years. Back in 1900, the average person was expected to live only about 47 years.  The oldest person so far whose age was verified by official documents was Jeanne Calment of France, who died at the spectacular age of 122 in 1997, but one aging researcher at the University of Texas Health Science Center has bet that someone will have lived to be 150 years old by the year 2150! Our improved understanding of health and human biology, including the development of antibiotics, has helped to fuel this huge increase in how long we expect to live.

We all know that environmental factors and lifestyle factors are important when it comes to attaining a ripe old age.  You have to eat right, exercise enough, and avoid all those vices like smoking and too much drinking.  But it’s not all what you do and how you live that determines whether you’ll live a long life, and if you do, whether you’ll be in good shape.  Genes are involved in aging as well.

A lot of the work on understanding the genetic factors involved in aging have been done in laboratory animal models.  Mutations in a gene called daf-2 in soil worms can double their lifespan.  Similar mutations can make fruit flies live up to 80% longer, and mice 30% longer than normal.   Daf-2 makes a protein that’s similar to one that binds insulin, the hormone that regulates glucose intake from your blood.  Some have speculated that daf-2 mediates the the longevity effects of dietary restriction (consuming a significantly reduced number of calories without malnutrition), which has been shown to extend the lifespan of both mice and monkeys.

That’s all well and good if you’re a worm or a fly or a mouse, but what about people?  Well, there’s some progress in understanding aging in us too.  Studies have shown that variants in the APOC3 gene and the FOXO3A gene are associated with longevity.  On the flip side, researchers have discovered that  mutations in the RECQL2 gene cause Werner’s syndrome, a disease that manifests as accelerated aging.

Our DNA is likely to hold many more of the secrets to living a long, healthy life.  That’s why 23andMe wants to do research to understand more about what genes can tell us about aging and longevity.  We’re working with experts in aging research from across the country, and you can join us!  Start by taking our Longevity Survey, which simply asks about the ages of some of your family members.  Hopefully together we can make discoveries that will help people enjoy even more healthy golden years.

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Here’s how it goes for me: a few afternoons a year, usually when I haven’t slept or eaten right, but sometimes for no apparent reason, I begin to sense a pressure behind my left eyebrow and to feel queasy. By now I know what’s coming, and I resign myself to another miserable evening and a coming day or two lost to indistinctness. I rush home and secrete myself in the coolest, darkest spot I can find, because for each of my senses the volume seems to have been cranked to amphitheater-level. I lie there for four or five hours, a dog on a leash, thinking grim thoughts and, despite myself, yelping every now and again when the pain ratchets up. Perhaps you know somebody with migraine and are familiar with the vocabulary they use to capture the experience: ‘throbbing’, ‘nauseating’, ‘excruciating’ and the like. All true. Respite comes only when my stomach has had too much and returns my lunch — normally one wants to avoid this outcome, but here I welcome it, court it even, which I’ve always found darkly funny. Then I fall into a dreamless sleep. While some don’t have it as bad as me, many have it far worse.

With the launch of our new migraine headache survey today, we at 23andMe invite you all to share your headache experiences, whether you’re one of the lucky few who’s never had even a little one or someone who must deal with the threat of migraine pain on a daily basis.  You needn’t be a 23andMe customer to take the survey (although we recommend it). All you need is a free 23andMe account.

Migraine headaches are nasty things. The common feature is a terrible pulsing pain emanating from inside the skull, usually just on one side, but apart from this everyone experiences them a bit differently. Some unlucky folks get them every day, while others get them just once a year. Migraines can last for a few hours or can pound on for days at a time. Then there is the menagerie of symptoms that can accompany the headaches, including nausea, vomiting, visual or aural illusions, and aversion to light, smell, touch and/or sound. Perhaps most variable across people are the causes of the headache, or triggers. For one person the triggers might be red wine or nuts, for another they might be stress, bright lights, or noise.

There is a wide array of treatment options for migraine. With guidance from their doctors, most migraine sufferers nowadays are able to find partial or full relief from their headaches. Despite the effectiveness of these treatments, the basic biology of the disease is not well-understood¹,  and migraine continues to exact a tremendous physical and economic toll on our society².

Two prominent migraine researchers have suggested that the blame for the slow progress in understanding migraine lies with a systemic lack of public funding for migraine research. They argue that the relatively recent, and incomplete, acceptance of migraine by the medical and research communities as a genuine medical problem, as opposed to mere melodrama, has led migraine’s funding to lag well behind that for diseases of similar impact. For example, they estimate that while $13.80 is spent for each sufferer of asthma, just 36 cents of federal research funds are spent per migraine sufferer.

The genetics of migraine are also only partially understood. That’s where our new survey comes in. Our community-based research program 23andWe seeks to empower the public to engage in genetic research from the ground up. We know our efforts cannot substitute for proper federal support of migraine research, but evidence of great public interest, plus a new finding or two, would add to our understanding of the disease and potentially send a message to Washington.

With all haste, then, please head over to the new migraine survey and be counted!

Footnotes:

1. What is understood of its biology and chemistry is fascinating, and summarized well here.
2. Nearly 40 million people in the US, and a similar number in Europe, suffer from migraine, roughly one in every ten people. Migraine occurs in women about three times more commonly than in men. Migraine is estimated to cost  around $23BN/year in the US and Euro27BN/year in Europe in direct medical costs and in indirect costs, such as lost productivity.

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