Loading...
When gene-sequencing technologies were developed 40 years ago, many people assumed that doctors soon would “determine a person's genes” early in life. By identifying diseases to which an individual was vulnerable, lifestyle advice and preventive medications could offer protection. Recent rapid gene-sequencing technologies (NEJM JW Gen Med May 8 2008) have made whole-genome sequencing financially feasible. But does this process provide valuable clinical information?
A team from Stanford performed whole-genome sequencing (using two different sequencing technologies) on 12 apparently healthy adults and identified several problems. First, the sequencing technologies did not read the entire genome accurately: 10% to 19% of known inherited-disease…