Genomic testing
 

Here is an interesting article. I had the Oncotype Dx done and used it to influence my decision on going through with the chemo.

Genes Show Limited Value in Predicting Diseases [The New York Times; Subscribe]

The era of personal genomic medicine may have to wait. The genetic analysis of common disease is turning out to be a lot more complex than expected.

Since the human genome was decoded in 2003, researchers have been developing a powerful method for comparing the genomes of patients and healthy people, with the hope of pinpointing the DNA changes responsible for common diseases.

This method, called a genomewide association study, has proved technically successful despite many skeptics' initial doubts. But it has been disappointing in that the kind of genetic variation it detects has turned out to explain surprisingly little of the genetic links to most diseases.

A set of commentaries in this week's issue of The New England Journal of Medicine appears to be the first public attempt by scientists to make sense of this puzzling result.

One issue of debate among researchers is whether, despite the prospect of diminishing returns, to continue with the genomewide studies, which cost many millions of dollars apiece, or switch to a new approach like decoding the entire genomes of individual patients.

The unexpected impasse also affects companies that offer personal genomic information and that had assumed they could inform customers of their genetic risk for common diseases, based on researchers' discoveries.

These companies are probably not performing any useful service at present, said David B. Goldstein, a Duke University geneticist who wrote one of the commentaries appearing in the journal.

"With only a few exceptions, what the genomics companies are doing right now is recreational genomics," Dr. Goldstein said in an interview. "The information has little or in many cases no clinical relevance."

[NOTE: For the full article, please follow the supplied link.]

I believe the OncoDX is one of those "exceptions" that have proven to have clinical relevance.

That's interesting. I also relied on the Oncotype test to help make my decision on treatment

I think the proof of the pudding for Oncotype Dx will be the results of the TailorX trial, currently on-going. I have posted articles in the past that questioned the accuracy of the validation tests for Oncotype.


Hopeful