Just because scientific advances now allow individuals to learn their genetic make-up doesn't mean they should rush into genetic testing in hopes of making revolutionary improvements to their health, cautions a geneticist and practicing physician at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
"From a basic science perspective, the advances being made in genomics are important discoveries, but it's unrealistic for individuals to believe those advances can yield meaningful information that will improve their health," said James P. Evans, M.D., Ph.D., professor of genetics and medicine in the UNC School of Medicine. "And even saying 'It's not there yet' is too optimistic. It's going to be a long time before the potential is realized."
Evans, who is also the director of the cancer and adult genetics clinics and the Bryson Program in Human Genetics in UNC's medical genetics department, will talk about how personal genomics will affect human lives at a panel discussion titled "Your Biological Biography" at the World Science Festival (www.worldsciencefestival.com) being held in New York City, May 28 to June 1. Evans will speak between 1 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, May 31, at the Kimmel Center for University Life at New York University.
"The sequencing of the human genome revealed that in relative terms, humans are 99.9 percent the same," Evans said. "But in absolute terms, we are very different. For example, a one-thousandth of a difference in their respective DNA profiles translates into more than 3 million differences between any two unrelated individuals."
Some of these differences are medically relevant, in that they influence disease predisposition and response to drugs, areas Evans studies in his research. And the differences are of interest in non-medical ways, specifically when they address ancestry, behavior traits and the innate curiosity humans have about their genes.
Sequencing of the human genome, which was completed in 2003, also gave rise to commercial entities offering direct-to-consumer genetic testing for a fee, usually between $1,000 and $3,000. Evans worries that individuals may seek such testing with the false hope that they will get meaningful results regarding their risks for disease and actionable medical advice about how to decrease their risks.