Personal Gene Mapping Has Its Limits

Source: HealthDay, Amanda Gardner  (4/2/12)

"The costs of whole genome sequencing are plummeting, making the test more accessible to more people, yet the ability of the test to provide useful information to patients has not been studied quantitatively."


HealthDay, Amanda Gardner

Many people have pinned their hopes on human genome scans as the cornerstone of the rapidly emerging field of personalized medicine, able to predict the future health of individuals.

But there may be limits to what information whole genome sequencing can provide, according to new research slated for presentation Monday at the American Association for Cancer Research annual meeting in Chicago. The study will be simultaneously published online in Science Translational Medicine.

"In most cases, genome sequencing is not going to tell people what disease they're going to get or die from. It can be valuable in telling what diseases they have an excess risk for," said study co-author Dr. Bert Vogelstein, director of the Ludwig Center for Cancer Genetics and Therapeutics at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. . .View Full Article