[Little Monkey]

Astronaut's change in DNA: implications for myeloma?

by Little Monkey on Thu Mar 15, 2018 7:06 pm

Are we on to something here in terms of, from a myeloma point of view, somehow interfering with the negative effects of a translocation of chromosome 11 and 14?

"Astronaut's DNA changes after spending year in space when compared to identical twin bother," The Independent, March 15, 2018 (full text of article)

First few paragraphs of article:

An astronaut who spent a year in space came back changed at a biological level.

Early results of Nasa’s Twins Study found that 7 per cent of astronaut Scott Kelly’s genes did not return to their normal state when he returned to Earth two years ago, compared to that of his identical twin brother who never left the blue planet.

Researchers are analysing what happened to Mr Kelly before, during, and after his year-long stint aboard the International Space Station using his brother, Mark, as a benchmark.

The identical twins, the space agency is discovering, are no longer genetically the same.

The newest results, released at the 2018 Investigator’s Workshop for Nasa’s Human Research Program in January, corroborated a study released one year earlier in 2017. The results suggest that a 7 per cent transformation of Mr Kelly’s genes may relate to at least five biological functions and pathways.

[TerryH]

Re: Astronaut's change in DNA: implications for myeloma?

by TerryH on Fri Mar 16, 2018 12:34 pm

Hi Little Monkey,

Many of the news reports about this study have been misleading. In fact, they've been so misleading that NASA added a clarifying statement yesterday at the top of the press release that's been the source of the news. The clarifying statement says:

"Mark and Scott Kelly are still identical twins; Scott’s DNA did not fundamentally change. What researchers did observe are changes in gene expression, which is how your body reacts to your environment. This likely is within the range for humans under stress, such as mountain climbing or SCUBA diving."

Here's another article that explains the NASA results in more detail, including how poor much of the press coverage of the results was:

"Scott Kelly’s medical monitoring has spawned some horrific press coverage," Ars Technica, March 15, 2018 (full text of article)

My immediate reaction is that the NASA study doesn't imply much for the search for better myeloma treatments or a cure for the disease. I'm not a biochemist or geneticist, however, so this is just a gut reaction on my part.

[Little Monkey]

Re: Astronaut's change in DNA: implications for myeloma?

by Little Monkey on Sat Mar 17, 2018 12:25 am

Thanks Terry,

I guess I fell victim to bad reporting.