Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2022 May 13:13:797465.
doi: 10.3389/fgene.2022.797465. eCollection 2022.

Genomics in Egypt: Current Status and Future Aspects

Eman Ahmed El-Attar  1 , Rasha Mohamed Helmy Elkaffas  2 , Sarah Ahmed Aglan  1 , Iman S Naga  3 , Amira Nabil  4 , Hoda Y Abdallah  5   6
Affiliations
Review

Genomics in Egypt: Current Status and Future Aspects

Eman Ahmed El-Attar et al. Front Genet. .

Abstract

Egypt is the third most densely inhabited African country. Due to the economic burden and healthcare costs of overpopulation, genomic and genetic testing is a huge challenge. However, in the era of precision medicine, Egypt is taking a shift in approach from "one-size-fits all" to more personalized healthcare via advancing the practice of medical genetics and genomics across the country. This shift necessitates concrete knowledge of the Egyptian genome and related diseases to direct effective preventive, diagnostic and counseling services of prevalent genetic diseases in Egypt. Understanding disease molecular mechanisms will enhance the capacity for personalized interventions. From this perspective, we highlight research efforts and available services for rare genetic diseases, communicable diseases including the coronavirus 2019 disease (COVID19), and cancer. The current state of genetic services in Egypt including availability and access to genetic services is described. Drivers for applying genomics in Egypt are illustrated with a SWOT analysis of the current genetic/genomic services. Barriers to genetic service development in Egypt, whether economic, geographic, cultural or educational are discussed as well. The sensitive topic of communicating genomic results and its ethical considerations is also tackled. To understand disease pathogenesis, much can be gained through the advancement and integration of genomic technologies via clinical applications and research efforts in Egypt. Three main pillars of multidisciplinary collaboration for advancing genomics in Egypt are envisaged: resources, infrastructure and training. Finally, we highlight the recent national plan to establish a genome center that will aim to prepare a map of the Egyptian human genome to discover and accurately determine the genetic characteristics of various diseases. The Reference Genome Project for Egyptians and Ancient Egyptians will initialize a new genomics era in Egypt. We propose a multidisciplinary governance system in Egypt to support genomic medicine research efforts and integrate into the healthcare system whilst ensuring ethical conduct of data.

Keywords: COVID 19; Egypt; cancer; communicable disease; genomics; governance.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Edwin Smith papyrus (Image credit — U.S. National Library of Medicine).
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Neighbor-joining phylogenetic tree of a SARS-CoV-2 strain from Egypt and other global strains. The two Egyptian strains are shown in red. The percentage of replicate trees in which the associated taxa clustered together in the bootstrap test (1,000 replicates) is shown at the dendrogram nodes. The phylogenetic analysis was performed using MEGA7 (Kandeil et al., 2020). Source: Coding-Complete Genome Sequences of Two SARS-CoV-2 Isolates from Egypt. Permission Request ID: 600053988.
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Barriers to genomic/genetic services in Egypt.
FIGURE 4
FIGURE 4
African genome projects map. Created with mapchart.net.
FIGURE 5
FIGURE 5
SWOT analysis of current genetic/genomics services in Egypt (MOH&P: Ministry of Health and Population; NRC: National Research Center; SCU: Suez Canal University).
FIGURE 6
FIGURE 6
Suggested stepwise approach for genomic medicine governance establishment.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. 1+ Million Genomes (2022). Shaping Europe’s Digital Future. [Cited 2022 Feb 5]. Available from: https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/1-million-genomes .
    1. Abdalla E. M., Mostowska A., Jagodziński P. P., Dwidar K., Ismail S. R. (2014). A Novel WNT10A Mutation Causes Non-Syndromic Hypodontia in an Egyptian Family. Arch. Oral Biol. 59 (7), 722–728. 10.1016/j.archoralbio.2014.04.004 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Abdalla E. M., Rohrbach M., Bürer C., Kraenzlin M., El-Tayeby H., Elbelbesy M. F., et al. (2015). Kyphoscoliotic Type of Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS VIA) in Six Egyptian Patients Presenting with a Homogeneous Clinical Phenotype. Eur. J. Pediatr. 174 (1), 105–112. 10.1007/s00431-014-2429-9 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Abdalla E., Ravenscroft G., Zayed L., Beecroft S. J., Laing N. G. (2017). Lethal Multiple Pterygium Syndrome: A Severe Phenotype Associated with a Novel Mutation in the Nebulin Gene. Neuromuscul. Disord. 27 (6), 537–541. 10.1016/j.nmd.2017.01.013 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Abdel-Mohsen M. A., Ahmed O. A., El-Kerm Y. M. (2016). BRCA1 Gene Mutations and Influence of Chemotherapy on Autophagy and Apoptotic Mechanisms in Egyptian Breast Cancer Patients. Asian Pac. J. Cancer Prev. 17 (3), 1285–1292. 10.7314/apjcp.2016.17.3.1285 - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources