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Old 11-30-2014, 09:37 PM   #7
rhondalea
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Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: Somerset, NJ
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Re: The Army of Women cancelled webinar response from Dr. Joanne Weidhaas

Quote:
23 and me is a GWAS platform, which is known to have about 10-15% error. That is just a fact. You can find out your BRCA results there as well, but is 10-15% error ok? Obviously not. We have a test that studies just KRAS. It is 100% accurate. Any clinical result has to be 100% accurate, or pretty darn close to that. That's why 23 and me isn't approved to deliver clinical results, and in fact was pulled from the market last December, for that very reason.
23andMe used the Illumina OmniExpress Chip. I think they may now use the Omni5 or similar. This is the spec sheet:

http://res.illumina.com/documents/pr...ome_arrays.pdf

The most recent error rate is approximately 0.014%. The highest error rate I've ever seen postulated (by a non-professional, no less) is 0.03%, and that was several years ago.

23andMe was spanked by the FDA because of its reports, which were largely based on GWAS and its own research, not because of their chosen chip. What was "pulled from the market" were the health reports, and even that limitation only applied to new customers. As I mentioned, my health reports are still available to me on the site. The raw data and the ancestry matches continue to be provided to everyone. The Illumina chips are used industry wide, and there is no chip that is 100% accurate (although some come pretty close), just as there is no lab test anywhere that is 100% accurate (speaking as one whose mammogram and core needle biopsy failed to detect her cancer). Remember that Genentech partnered with 23andMe for their Avastin study. Pfizer recently partnered with 23andMe to do an IBD study. That's just a small sample of the research being done in with 23andMe's data. What are the odds that any of these partnerships would exist if the error rate were as high as she claims?

I offer this for clarity on the subject on 23andMe only. I confess that I skimmed through, and it caught my eye, but I have not read the rest of the thread because I have no interest in what JW has to say.
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2/6/09 Core needle biopsy: negative; Mammos through 2010: no change
3/30/11 Pea-sized lump in left breast at site of prior biopsy; mammo negative, sonogram not so much
4/14/11 Core needle biopsy: negative for cancer
5/18/11 Excisional biopsy 1.2 cm tumor, LVI, positive margin; ER+60%,PR+20%,HER2/CEP17 5
6/15/11 BMX: Left DCIS & LH; Right ADH; SNB: 2/3 nodes: 1.4 cm and 1 mm; ALND L1&2: 0/10; Stage IIa, Grade 3
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