Should you send for a mail order DNA kit to test your adopted child’s DNA? Will this test help you know if your adopted child is predisposed to a genetic condition? If your child came to you through international adoption or another method without a medical history, you may be tempted. The mail order prices even seem affordable and you can order them on the Internet making DNA testing more tempting. Each time you visit a new doctor, dentist, optometrist, or specialist you have to fill out a medical history for your child. If your child has asthma symptoms, symptoms of an emotional disorder, or something more serious, specialists always want to know if there is a family history of the condition. It can be frustrating and perhaps embarrassing to know nothing about your child’s medical background. As your child gets older, it may even be embarrassing for your child.
You may have seen genetic testing services advertised on the Internet. It certainly seems like a viable way to assess your adopted child’s risk of getting a wide range of medical conditions. You simply collect a sample of your child’s saliva, or scrape a bit of cells from inside your child’s cheek. You put the sample in the mail along with a money order for about $1,000. In a few short weeks, you will be able to browse your child’s DNA on the Internet. Then you take your new found information to your child’s doctor and develop an action plan to help your child avoid health problems, right.
Well the Mayo Clinic says don’t do it, at least not yet. Each DNA strand in each of your cells contains approximately 30,000 genes. Currently, testing laboratories perform over 1,100 different genetic tests. These tests screen newborn babies for hereditary disorders or diagnose inherited cancer syndromes, and many things in between. The new commercial genetic tests are different from these.
Rather than just evaluating a few specific genes, these tests use DNA microarray technology to evaluate the genome for hundreds of thousands of points of difference in a person’s DNA. The tiny differences in gene sequence are known as SNPs, (snips) which stands for single nucleotide polymorphisms. Currently researchers have been able to identify over a million SNPs. Some of these SNPS have been correlated to certain disease risks or traits. SNPs may also be useful to genealogists and anthropologists to locate ancestors. However, the clinical significance isn’t known for many SNPS.
Rather than telling you if you will get a particular disease, these tests give you your estimated odds of developing a number of common diseases. Usually a person’s individual risk is more complicated. Many diseases have complex genetic underpinnings, which don’t stem from a single altered gene or SNP. Environmental factors and multiple genes are usually responsible for diseases like cancer and heart disease.
The information you receive from your DNA testing online can be difficult to understand without the assistance of a doctor or genetic counselor. Even their knowledge is limited regarding risk assessment based on these test results. If you find out your child is at risk for a certain disease then what should you do? You already know that you shouldn’t smoke or drink excessive amounts of alcohol. You know that you should exercise, and eat a healthy diet including plenty of fruits and vegetables to stay healthy. You don’t need to pay hundreds of dollars for this advice.
However, the field of genetics is expanding rapidly and exciting new discoveries are reported every week. Researchers anticipate a revolution in personalized medicine based on individual “genomic profiles.” However, they feel that broader applications for genetic testing are still a few years away.
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ckirkman’s photo stream uploaded September 12, 2005