Protective alleles and precision healthcare in crewed spaceflight

Lindsay A Rutter; Matthew J MacKay; Henry Cope; Nathaniel J Szewczyk; JangKeun Kim; Eliah Overbey; Braden T Tierney; Masafumi Muratani; Ben Lamm; Daniela Bezdan; Amber M Paul; Michael A Schmidt; George M Church; Stefania Giacomello; Christopher E Mason

doi:10.1038/s41467-024-49423-6

Protective alleles and precision healthcare in crewed spaceflight

Nat Commun. 2024 Jul 22;15(1):6158. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-49423-6.

Authors

Lindsay A Rutter^{1

2

3}, Matthew J MacKay^{4

5

6}, Henry Cope⁷, Nathaniel J Szewczyk^{7

8}, JangKeun Kim^{4

5}, Eliah Overbey^{4

5}, Braden T Tierney^{4

5}, Masafumi Muratani^{1

2}, Ben Lamm⁹, Daniela Bezdan^{10

11

12}, Amber M Paul¹³, Michael A Schmidt^{14

15}, George M Church^{16

17

18}, Stefania Giacomello¹⁹, Christopher E Mason^{20

21

22

23

24}

Affiliations

¹ Transborder Medical Research Center, University of Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8575, Japan.
² Department of Genome Biology, Institute of Medicine, University of Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8575, Japan.
³ School of Chemistry, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, G12 8QQ, UK.
⁴ Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, 10065, USA.
⁵ The HRH Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud Institute for Computational Biomedicine, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, 10021, USA.
⁶ The WorldQuant Initiative for Quantitative Prediction, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, 10065, USA.
⁷ School of Medicine, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, DE22 3DT, UK.
⁸ Ohio Musculoskeletal and Neurological Institute (OMNI), Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine, Ohio University, Athens, OH, 45701, USA.
⁹ Colossal Biosciences, 1401 Lavaca St, Unit #155 Austin, Austin, TX, 78701, USA.
¹⁰ Institute of Medical Genetics and Applied Genomics, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
¹¹ NGS Competence Center Tübingen (NCCT), University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
¹² Yuri GmbH, Meckenbeuren, Germany.
¹³ Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Department of Human Factors and Behavioral Neurobiology, Daytona Beach, FL, 32114, USA.
¹⁴ Sovaris Aerospace, Boulder, CO, 80302, USA. mschmidtphd@patternanalysis.org.
¹⁵ Advanced Pattern Analysis & Human Performance Group, Boulder, CO, 80302, USA. mschmidtphd@patternanalysis.org.
¹⁶ GC Therapeutics Inc, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA. gc@hms.harvard.edu.
¹⁷ Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA. gc@hms.harvard.edu.
¹⁸ Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 02115, USA. gc@hms.harvard.edu.
¹⁹ SciLifeLab, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, 17165, Sweden. stefania.giacomello@scilifelab.se.
²⁰ Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, 10065, USA. chm2042@med.cornell.edu.
²¹ The HRH Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud Institute for Computational Biomedicine, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, 10021, USA. chm2042@med.cornell.edu.
²² The WorldQuant Initiative for Quantitative Prediction, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, 10065, USA. chm2042@med.cornell.edu.
²³ Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 02115, USA. chm2042@med.cornell.edu.
²⁴ The Feil Family Brain and Mind Research Institute, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, 10065, USA. chm2042@med.cornell.edu.

Abstract

Common and rare alleles are now being annotated across millions of human genomes, and omics technologies are increasingly being used to develop health and treatment recommendations. However, these alleles have not yet been systematically characterized relative to aerospace medicine. Here, we review published alleles naturally found in human cohorts that have a likely protective effect, which is linked to decreased cancer risk and improved bone, muscular, and cardiovascular health. Although some technical and ethical challenges remain, research into these protective mechanisms could translate into improved nutrition, exercise, and health recommendations for crew members during deep space missions.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Aerospace Medicine
Alleles*
Genome, Human
Humans
Neoplasms / genetics
Neoplasms / therapy
Precision Medicine* / methods
Space Flight*

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding