Walgreens Drug Stores To Carry Home Genetic Test Kits
Interesting. Might be worth giving it a whirl. I’m 51 and it would be useful to know what might be on the horizon.
I ordered the complete package from 23 and me a few weeks ago. Saw their complete package on slickdeals.net for 80% off for one day ($100 instead of $500) and I figured what the hell. I’ve read that some of the correlation type data for medical conditions is fairly weak and not all that useful to know, but the ancestry stuff is kind of interesting and I figured it’d be fun info on the cheap.
My only concern is having my genetic data on file somewhere, and if it somehow ends up being used against me in the future. I’m a little nervous about sending it in for that reason. But if the reforms block discrimination based on pre-existing conditions, I would imagine you’d be ok with non-existing conditions which your genetics suggest are slightly more likely?
Do they actually do the whole genome? I would think they’d only do the 70 tests. Doesn’t each test actually involve using up the sample?
No, they don’t sequence your entire genome. They just sequence a fraction of your genes that are known to correlate with some conditions and ancestry information.
They explain the technical side here.
I’m not sure how DNA sequencing and identification works and all that. If this ended up in a big genetic database someday, is there enough information from these sorts of tests to identify someone from a DNA sample?
They can’t deny coverage based on that, but you better believe they’ll charge you higher premiums if they have reason to believe you’re going to get cancer.
When this company was doing its market research I took a bunch of paid surveys (and an online focus group) about how I felt about such a product. I was vehemently against it and said I’d never use it.
As a technical nitpick, they don’t actually do any sequencing. What they do instead is distinguish between common variants at a given part of some particular gene. They do not sequence the whole gene, though some genetic testing companies are beginning to do this. In practical terms, sequencing a particular bit of DNA is more expensive than a simpler genotyping test. I do this sort of thing all the time in the lab – sending out a sample for sequencing costs $7.50, versus $1 for a simpler genotyping reaction (and $0.25 worth of reagents if I do the simpler test myself).
I’ll try to explain the difference with a hypothetical example. Say that 93% of the population has a “normal” version of some gene of interest, and 7% have a (relatively) common variant that puts them at increased risk of a disease. Simple genotyping would be able to distinguish those two groups. Now, nothing in biology is that simple – we may learn someday that a small number of those in the “normal” group actually have spontaneous and essentially unique variants in the gene which also affect their disease risk. Sequencing would be able to identify those sorts of mutations. However, it’s not easy to determine whether a given rare mutation can affect a disease, so the information isn’t very valuable to the individual carrying the mutation.
Oh, and personally I am very wary of this sort of testing. I couldn’t find any useful technical information on the website of Pathway Genomics. 23 and Me has a bit, but not very much. I want to know exactly which markers each company is testing for, what my genotype is, along with a long list of citations in the scientific literature for each marker. I would never spend any money on a company that would only tell me “you’ve got a slightly higher risk of disease x”.
Though since I work in a bio lab myself, I’ve been tempted to test myself using the same tools I use every day…
If you’re worried about privacy, insurance, etc., I think it would be a much better idea to get the testing done outside of your regular medical system. If you ordered a similar battery of tests through your doctor, there is just no way that the results wouln’t be part of your medical records.
If I was going to do this, I’d do it totally anonymously. False name, PO box address, money order to pay, etc.
Then, if I got some results that really concerned me, I would think about discussing it with my doctor.