The influence of Māori and Pasifika ancestry on health

MEDIA RELEASE

15 August 2016

The influence of Māori and Pasifika ancestry on health

European and Polynesian genepools are different and should be treated differently when matching tissues for transplants or prescribing medicines, says a Victoria University of Wellington researcher who has just completed an extensive 30-year study.

The study by Dr Geoff Chambers, a molecular geneticist in Victoria’s School of Biological Sciences, has revealed that differences between Māori and Pasifika genepools, compared with those of European ancestry, could have significant medical consequences.

“Our studies into tissue typing and blood group analysis show Māori and Pasifika are more likely to find donors from someone within their own ancestral background,” says Dr Chambers.

“This also concerns people of first generation mixed ethnicity—those who have one European genome and one Māori or Pasifika genome. The only people who are likely to be good prospects for tissue donors for them, are people who share a similar genetic make-up.

“The more blended our ethnicities become, the better the chance of finding a match in New Zealand but the poorer the chance of finding an overseas donor. The latter has a much larger register of donors.”

Dr Chambers says the research has implications for the public health system and transplant success.

The 30-year study, co-authored by Dr Hisham Edinur from the University of Science, Malaysia, and Dr Paul Dunn from University Hospitals of Leicester in the United Kingdom, has just been published in the New Zealand Science Review.

“Our data help to explain why some diseases are more common in one group than another, and show how immune systems from groups may respond to diseases in different ways—ways we don’t even know yet,” says Dr Chambers.

“These results open the door to many future studies—if we want to use new medicines effectively, then we have to do it differently and based on our new knowledge about genetic ancestry.”

Dr Chambers’ earlier investigations identified genetic markers that traced the origin of Austronesian people (Polynesian, Māori, Melanesian, Micronesian and people from parts of Southeast Asia).

“Because of their genetic commonality, medical genetic studies done in Southeast Asian populations are likely to be of interest and concern to Māori or Pasifika, and likewise. They’re part of a very big whanau—and it is an area where we could be looking for further insights into health and medications.”

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