Forbes and Genetics Part 4

Ok,
Sorry I took off Sunday. I just want to take the time to make a public service announcement. Please talk with you loved ones about your wishes if you were to have a terminal illness. Sometimes these wishes can not be conveyed and this will lead to horrible outcomes. So please, please have a living will.

Thanks.

Now back to the slugfest!
I have received even more emails about these postings. Luckily none from Lawyers yet ;)

Round 4 BRCA1 and BRCA2:
From the article-One in 500 women have mutations in one of these genes, which normally keep tumors from growing. That gives them a 50% to 80% lifetime risk of breast cancer and a higher risk of ovarian cancer, too. The test costs $385 for women of Jewish ancestry who know they are at risk for a particular mutation. A broader test looking for any defect costs $3,120.
Succinct, accurate, and applicable. However, they did not get into BART testing as I had posted about in my Blame Portugal segment. The also did not point out that BRCA testing can detect pancreatic and prostate cancer risk as well. This could have been much more informative and useful............Sherpa 3 Forbes 2

Round 5 OncotypeDX:
From the article-This test looks at 21 different genes that can be out of whack in a breast cancer tumor and predicts how likely cancer is to come back after surgery. That helps women decide whether or not to get chemotherapy, which can cause side effects such as nausea, hair loss and numbness. The test costs $3,500 and is covered by MediCare, UnitedHealthcare and Aetna.
I am not so sure "out of whack" is the best way to describe this testing. Perhaps, "whose expression leads to poor outcomes and recurrence" is a better way to describe it. Well, I am one to mince words myself so I can't get too picky. But the answer is...Absolutely an important test. This has been proven, validated and replicated.
No doubt this round goes.....Sherpa 3 Forbes 3!

Round 6 TCF7L2 testing.
From the article-This variant, in a region called TCF7L2, doubles the risk of adult diabetes if you have two bad copies of it--10% of people do. It is the strongest diabetes-promoting gene yet discovered. DeCode Genetics sells a test for $500 via online test provider DNA Direct.
Ok, before I go slicing into this test several caveats. 1 I absolutely abhor testing for the sake of testing. Especially when the result is not definitive. It leads to confusion, poor compliance and a false sense of security. I am disgusted by this type of testing. Especially when just one sibling with diabetes gives you greater information.

Now to the dissection of this claim. First, this polymorphism is a good and replicated polymorphism. But not everyone with diabetes has this change. The gene is about risk and there is no study available which show there are significant steps you can do to mitigate this specific gene risk. True you can diet and exercise just like you would to prevent diabetes anyways. In addition, the increased risk given by just this one polymorphism is not that significant. What is more likely to change your life is a panel such including genes identified by Dr Collins et. al. This study was published before the Forbes article and they easily could have mentioned all of these genes in one part. But they did not. Why? I think it has to do with the ties to deCODE. But that's just the conspiracy theorist in me.

I have an issue with this quote-"It is the strongest diabetes-promoting gene yet discovered."
Wow!! In what population? There are other genes in populations not northern European that have higher risk. This statement is almost false!!! Frankly I think we should take a point away from Forbes for this. But I won't.

Sherpa 4 .... Forbes 3

The Sherpa Says: I love how the media mixes true things into their agenda. It is a sneaky way to appear factual and credible. If they would have to submit these things to peer review before publishing, then we would have a different story. How come no one holds journalists to scientist standards? Especially when writing about Science!!