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Global Translational Medicine                                        Epigenetics on cardiovascular diseases



            to genetics. However, it does raise questions regarding the   Table 1. Clinical understanding of chronic cardiac diseases
            privacy and health status of subsequent generations, as well   with reductionism and systems biology approach (Reused
            as issues related to health justice, equality of opportunities,   from Louridas and Lourida [147] )
            and ethical questions. The impact of epigenetic sciences   Medical   Reductionism’s   Systems biology holistic
            extends to addressing fundamental and contentious issues   applications  objectives  strategy
            in ontogenesis, encompassing the malleability of our own   Clinical   Isolated clinical   Interactions between
            bodies, receptiveness to environmental and social conditions   focus  parameters  components, such as
            throughout life, and the importance of these processes in                      molecules, networks,
            adaptation, inheritance, and evolution [22,23] . Recognizing the               modules, and models
            societal importance of interdisciplinary integration, efforts                  (phenotypes)
            are being made to facilitate the reuse of clinical data for the   Prevention  Isolated culprit molecular  As an entity, the whole
            benefit of patients. This collaborative approach poses ethical   and environmental   range of culpable variables
                                                                         parameters
            challenges related to patient autonomy and privacy, but it
            also presents an opportunity for progress by borrowing   Diagnosis  Isolated molecules,   The patient as a “diseased
                                                                                           person”
                                                                         biomarkers, signs, and
            concepts from one field to another while maintaining patient   symptoms
            confidentiality in view of complex ethical dilemmas. Ethical   Therapy  Treating causes and   Treating the patient from a
            implications  in  epigenetics  become  particularly  pertinent   symptoms      holistic perspective
            when patients undergo screening for diseases connected to
            lifestyle and environmental exposures, potentially leading   The holistic principle of SB presents an active and
            to issues of discrimination and stigmatization . Dupras   expanding  scientific  field  grounded  in  the  principles  of
                                                 [24]
               [25]
            et al.  used the term epigenetics to outline the relationship   integrative computational analysis. It produces interactive
            between toxic exposures and epigenetic modifications,   pathological networks and phenotypes, offering broad
            epigenetic variants and diseases, and the inheritance   applications in  clinical  medicine . To  understand  the
                                                                                          [12]
            of acquired epigenetic traits. In addition, ethical issues   concept of the holistic principle of SB, we should briefly
            emerge in the research and development of epigenomic   turn to some recent developments in biology. The Modern
            technologies,  prompting  questions  about  guidance  for   Synthesis (Neo-Darwinist) is founded on a reductionist
            researchers  in  the  field .  Contrary to  social  epigenetics,   approach. It posits a gene-centered theory of evolution,
                              [26]
            Deichmann  disputes and emphasizes the focus on the   deconstructing biological systems into constituent parts
                     [27]
            environment and Lamarckian inheritance in social sciences,   to elucidate the chemical principles governing molecular
            accrediting epigenetics with epistemic prestige.   activities [12,33] . In contrast, biological relativity (BR) is a
            2.3. The holistic principle of systems biology     new theory of evolution emphasizing the integration of
                                                               diverse biological mechanisms and networks manifested
            Conventional  healthcare  systems traditionally  employ   by dynamically functional systems. BR posits the absence
            a reductionist approach, wherein medical problems are   of an authoritative level of causation in biology , asserting
                                                                                                   [34]
            simplified to  isolated  organ  problems or  biochemical   that “life is systems within systems within systems, and
            faults. The term “disease” itself indicates that specific   there is no single point of master control,” while causation
            molecular systems or organs are malfunctioning, thereby   remains active within networks comprising components
            impacting human health [28-30] . Nevertheless, when dealing   devoid of DNA templates . Genes are activated through
                                                                                   [35]
            with complex atherosclerotic processes and CVDs, it   a variety of cellular mechanisms, and dynamic functional
            becomes evident that these conditions are not attributable   networks interrelate with the environment . Boi and
                                                                                                   [36]
            to single-gene diseases. Instead, a holistic approach is   Lobo , in their exploration of the “geometry and
                                                                   [37]
            imperative for interpreting the progression from the   phenomenology of the living,” argue that novel concepts are
            atherosclerotic plaque to the clinical phenotypes of CVDs.   required to disentangle multifactorial genetic, epigenetic,
            These ailments are inherently multifaceted and progressive,   and  environmental  causation,  explaining  the  inherent
            defying explanations through the lens of single-nucleotide   complexity. SB helps to understand how a biological
            polymorphisms or genome-wide case–control association   system reacts to alterations in the microenvironment
            studies  (GWAS) [31,32] .  Systems  biology  embodies  a  basic   within cellular or tissue contexts, even affecting distant
            holistic perspective, fostering an understanding of   organs . The methodology of SB has, in a way, substituted
                                                                    [38]
            interactive and integrative disease networks that explore   molecular biology by shifting focus toward more extensive
            the entirety of clinical phenotypes and disease progression   biological constructs such as networks and signaling
            rather  than focusing  solely on  isolated  pathological   information systems .  Systems  healthcare  embodies  a
                                                                                [39]
            components of the disease (Table 1).               holistic approach to health, seamlessly integrating data

            Volume 2 Issue 4 (2023)                         4                        https://doi.org/10.36922/gtm.1868
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