[stann]

Re: Multiple myeloma treatment and race

by stann on Thu Sep 11, 2014 2:32 pm

I wonder if somebody has gone through, or could go through, all of the studies retrospectively and look for racial patterns and responses to different therapies? Maybe it wasn't noticed in one trial, but by looking at a lot of studies, maybe a racial difference would be noticed?

A few years ago, genetic studies showed that 2% of DNA for people of European ancestry is from Neanderthal, and they thought it imparted differences between Caucasian immune systems to those people of African ancestry who did not interbreed with Neanderthal "back in the day" (haha). I have no idea what "2% of DNA" means.

Not sure if Asians also had Neanderthal DNA.

[mikeb]

Re: Multiple myeloma treatment and race

by mikeb on Fri Sep 12, 2014 11:07 pm

Stann, on the Neanderthal DNA - I think Asians also have some Neanderthal DNA, about the same amount as Europeans. This was a topic that was discussed in the recent EdX "Introduction to Biology" course that I took over the internet and really enjoyed. The basic idea is that there was interbreeding as Homo sapiens migrated north and then east out of Africa.

Mike