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Q: "Does the 23andMe service include analysis of the BRCA gene?" A: "... The BRCA mutations covered by this report are only three of hundreds in the BRCA1 and B

Q: "Does the 23andMe service include analysis of the BRCA gene?" A: "... The BRCA mutations covered by this report are only three of hundreds in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes that can cause cancer." https://customercare.23andme.com/entries/23241132-Does-the-23andMe-service-include-analysis-of-the-BRCA-gene- https://customercare.23andme.com/entries/23241132-Does-the-2...

rms 14y ago
But those are three of the most significant of the possible BRCA mutations, no?
- siganakis 14y ago
  No. Micro-array analysis (as opposed to the Exome sequencing they are starting to offer, which may be useful for BRCA diagnosis) focusses on frequently occurring single nucleotide polymorphisms (substitution of one base for another). The majority of these are benign. By looking at lots of commonly occurring variants it is hoped that they can map regions of the genome that may harbour other mutations that may actually have an effect. Baynes et al., 2007 [1] showed that none of the commonly occurring SNP's in BRCA (> 1-5% of the population) have a significant risk in cancer. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17428325 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17428325
  - rms 14y ago
    I stand corrected. It looks like 23andme is testing for just a few high-penetrance but uncommon mutations that are mostly only of interest to Ashkenazi Jews.
    - berberous 14y ago
      Myriad, the company that owns the BRCA patents, has been the only player in town for almost 20 years. There is currently a case before the Supreme Court trying to invalidate Myriad's patents, as well as all patents on human DNA. The issue, however, is that Myriad's value is no longer in their patents, but in the data they collected over the past 20 years. Myriad charges ~$3k for their tests, while a full sequence of your entire genome is only ~$5k, and will tell you the same genetic data. But Myriad has been able to correlate much more of your DNA and the BRCA regions with cancer risk, and that data is not public. 23andMe is definitely not a substitute. For anyone interested in the patents and the current Supreme Court case, check out: http://www.genomicslawreport.com/index.php/2013/05/01/some-thoughts-on-myriad-after-the-supreme-court-argument/ http://www.genomicslawreport.com/index.php/2013/05/01/some-t... That's a great blog on genomics and the law, and there are other interesting blog posts on Myriad if you look through their archive.
gcb0 14y ago
after you have the dna mapped out, how can you patent looking for a pattern? or is there a completely different way of mapping specific genes?

rms 14y ago

But those are three of the most significant of the possible BRCA mutations, no?

siganakis 14y ago
No. Micro-array analysis (as opposed to the Exome sequencing they are starting to offer, which may be useful for BRCA diagnosis) focusses on frequently occurring single nucleotide polymorphisms (substitution of one base for another). The majority of these are benign. By looking at lots of commonly occurring variants it is hoped that they can map regions of the genome that may harbour other mutations that may actually have an effect. Baynes et al., 2007 [1] showed that none of the commonly occurring SNP's in BRCA (> 1-5% of the population) have a significant risk in cancer. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17428325 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17428325
- rms 14y ago
  I stand corrected. It looks like 23andme is testing for just a few high-penetrance but uncommon mutations that are mostly only of interest to Ashkenazi Jews.
  - berberous 14y ago
    Myriad, the company that owns the BRCA patents, has been the only player in town for almost 20 years. There is currently a case before the Supreme Court trying to invalidate Myriad's patents, as well as all patents on human DNA. The issue, however, is that Myriad's value is no longer in their patents, but in the data they collected over the past 20 years. Myriad charges ~$3k for their tests, while a full sequence of your entire genome is only ~$5k, and will tell you the same genetic data. But Myriad has been able to correlate much more of your DNA and the BRCA regions with cancer risk, and that data is not public. 23andMe is definitely not a substitute. For anyone interested in the patents and the current Supreme Court case, check out: http://www.genomicslawreport.com/index.php/2013/05/01/some-thoughts-on-myriad-after-the-supreme-court-argument/ http://www.genomicslawreport.com/index.php/2013/05/01/some-t... That's a great blog on genomics and the law, and there are other interesting blog posts on Myriad if you look through their archive.

gcb0 14y ago

after you have the dna mapped out, how can you patent looking for a pattern? or is there a completely different way of mapping specific genes?