The genetic testing company 23andMe has gotten permission from the US Food and Drug Administration to sell a test directly to customers that detects DNA mutations associated with a higher risk of several cancers.
What it does: The test, which will be available through 23andMe’s $199 health and ancestry service, reports three genetic variants of the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes that are most common in people of Ashkenazi Jewish descent. Mutations in these genes raise a person’s risk for breast, ovarian, and prostate cancer.
Limited test: There are more than 1,000 known mutations found on BRCA genes, and 23andMe’s test doesn’t yet look at the most common ones in the general population. The FDA cautions that a negative result from the test doesn’t rule out other BRCA mutations or an increased risk of cancer.
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