Genetic counseling in post-genomic era: Don't pretend to know the meaning of a gene mutation if you don't know  

作　　者：Liting Song 

机构地区：[1]Liting Song, Hope Biomedical Research, Toronto, ON M2K 2J8, Canada

出　　处：《World Journal of Medical Genetics》2014年第1期1-5,共5页世界医学遗传学杂志

摘　　要：In this post-genomic era, more and more susceptibility loci of many possible genetic diseases are published. As our knowledge about these susceptibility loci is limited and partial, we should be very careful and responsible when patients seek genetic counseling about these possible genetic diseases. We should apply Confucius' s principle about knowledge and information to genetic conseling, and tell the truth to our patients about what we know and what we do not know. Like many other cancers, breast cancer is a very complicated, multifactorial disease; genetic factors, lifestyles and eating habits, environmental factors, and viral infections might be involved in breast cancer; hence, it is difficult to figure out the real etiology of breast cancer. It is not crystal clear that a person who carries mutations of the breast cancer 1, early onset and/or breast cancer 2, early onset genes would eventually get breast cancer in her/his lifetime. No person should undergo a preventive double mastectomy, unless we know the etiology of breast cancer someday.In this post-genomic era, more and more susceptibility loci of many possible genetic diseases are published. As our knowledge about these susceptibility loci is limited and partial, we should be very careful and re-sponsible when patients seek genetic counseling about these possible genetic diseases. We should apply Con-fucius’s principle about knowledge and information to genetic conseling, and tell the truth to our patients about what we know and what we do not know. Like many other cancers, breast cancer is a very compli-cated, multifactorial disease; genetic factors, lifestyles and eating habits, environmental factors, and viral infections might be involved in breast cancer; hence, it is difficult to figure out the real etiology of breast cancer. It is not crystal clear that a person who carries mutations of the breast cancer 1, early onset and/or breast cancer 2, early onset genes would eventually get breast cancer in her/his lifetime. No person should undergo a preventive double mastectomy, unless we know the etiology of breast cancer someday.

关 键 词：Genetic counseling Genetic disease Susceptibility loci Breast cancer 1 early onset and breast cancer 2 early onset genes Preventive double mastectomy 

分 类 号：R1[医药卫生—公共卫生与预防医学]