ABOVE: A blood smear showing leukemia cells
©ISTOCK.COM, JOSE LUIS CALVO MARTIN & JOSE ENRIQUE GARCIA-MAURIÑO MUZQUIZ
Performing three types of genetic testing on patients with pediatric cancers can improve their care, researchers reported yesterday (October 17) at the American Society of Human Genetics annual meeting in San Diego.
Scott Newman, a cancer biologist at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, and his colleagues performed whole genome, exome, and RNA sequencing on tumors from 253 pediatric oncology patients, as well as whole genome and exome sequencing on healthy tissue samples from the same children. “It is a whole lot of sequencing. I admit that,” Newman said during his presentation of the project, called Genomes for Kids. Yet, the data revealed at least one insightful result—either a diagnosis, a potential drug target, or a prognosis—for nearly 200 of the patients.
The testing comes at a cost—$8,600 per patient. That may seem high, Newman ...
