This new site reveals surprising links between different diseases
A new website from the Barcelona Supercomputing Center is making it easier to see how different diseases are genetically connected.
You can explore unexpected links, like type 2 diabetes being tied to Alzheimer's, or arthritis showing up with lung disease—helping us all understand how illnesses can overlap in ways we might not expect.
Uncovering the connections
Built on genetic data from over 4,000 patients, the site reveals that 64% of linked diseases share similarities in gene expressions, with the immune system involved in 95% of clinically related diseases.
It highlights both positive connections (where one disease might lead to another) and negative ones (where having one could actually protect against another).
For example, people with Huntington's disease tend to get fewer tumors than expected. Other surprising pairings include autism with leukemia and Parkinson's disease with rheumatoid arthritis—opening up new paths for research into why these links exist.