This Diabetic Lady Tested Negative For The DeCode T2 Marker Test!
June 9, 2007 by Kendra James, RN
Filed under Diseases & Conditions
You do not carry any copies of the deCODE T2 risk marker. This means that you do not have this specific, genetic risk factor for diabetes.
I received my results from DNA Direct yesterday. I was a little surprised at first. My test showed that I did not test positive for the T2 risk marker for type 2 diabetes. But don’t I have type 2 diabetes?
Yes, indeed I do. Just ask my poor ol’ fingers and glucometer. But when you get down to the nitty gritty of this test…
About 1 in 5 diabetics (18%) carry two copies of this marker compared to about 1 in 10 people (8-11%) in the general population, so having two copies of the marker doubles a person’s risk for developing type 2 diabetes.
So, while the test can indeed show if you may be at risk for type 2 diabetes in the future, it can only be as accurate as it can be. Catch my drift?
It is also important to understand that the deCODE T2 test does not diagnose diabetes.
Was the testing process simple? Yes! I simply swabbed my cheeks, the upper ones people, and dropped the DNA in a pre-paid Fed ex package, and sent it on it’s merry way. Simple as that. They sent me email verification that they received the packages and kept me up to date on progress.
My results did take 5 weeks or so to come back, but their normal turn around time is 3 weeks. DNA direct sent me a little email hello to let me know my results were ready, and I just clicked the mouse, logged in and yee-ha, there they were. DNA direct explains the test results in depth and provides many resources to better understand them. They even offer a letter that can be printed out and taken to your doctor. How cool.
They also have a whole team of geneticists and specialists that can provide support and guidance for each individual “tester”. There is a plethra of websites and phone numbers that are also offered too all those that choose to complete deCode’s T2 risk marker test.
And that brings me to the only real negative in the whole testing process. Because the deCode T2 Risk factor test is a choice and not a necessary, the cost is $500. You really could argue either way. “Isn’t $500 worth knowing your future and how to prevent diabetes?” The other… “Why pay $500 to find out that you might be at risk. Just eat right and exercise, and that’s all you can do!”
What do you think? Would you be interested in taking the test? Do you think it is just a waste of your hard earned money?
Five-question interview for Eye on DNA headed your way, Diabetic Lady.
Even if a person has a positive test (from DeCodeT2), the test will still fail to predict how sever the medical condition may be, when it would occur, or even, and not show reduced penetrace that could occur.
As we know, diabetes is a complex disorder. You can have a mutation that puts you at risk for diabetes but that does not mean you will always get it because you have the mutation that makes you susceptible. Having said that, you can be exposed to certain environmental conditions that put you at risk for diabetes, but with or without the mutation you can still get diabetes.
There must be a firm link between the gene(s) causing the diabetes in a client for the test to be useful.
Genetic testing is a great tool for Mendelian genetics, but once you get into the complex diseases genetic testing is a tricky game.
Most common diseases don’t have a Mendelian inheritance pattern. Most disease susceptibility factors are not strong enough to be usefully predictive for individuals. In the light of research in behavior with smoking and diet, it is unrealistic to think many people will modify their lifestyle to avoid modest genetic risks.