"Your uterus looks good and your eggs look good."
Mary Johnson is the mother of a healthy 3-year-old with no history of fertility problems, but when she and husband Roy decided to try for baby number two they chose the in-vitro route.
"Tank 2 is frozen embryos."
They want a healthy baby and they're convinced Doctor Jeffrey Steinberg's gene chip test is their best bet.
"Each one of these little circles is an embryo."
Embryos, at just 8 cells, can now be screened using chips called microarrays. each chip is layered with
D-N-A fragments. They're scanned for thousands of specific genetic defects all at once. "We try to hone in on the most common disorders that we see in healthy couples."
Doctor Steinberg says the test looks for genetic causes of Down's Syndrome and the risks of prostate, breast and colon cancers. But experts caution: D-N-A doesn't determine everything. “If you do a dna test on someone to predict their risk of heart disease, you’re really only looking at a part of the picture. You’re really only looking at what they came with, the hand they were dealt.”
At 39, Mary and 55-year-old Roy know age is a risk factor but they also want to avoid passing along a family history of cancer and heart disease. "Growing up and later discovering you had a genetic disposition passed on from family members, if you can eliminate that and save yourself and your family members so much pain, I think that this is amazing."
At about 20-thousand dollars a couple this isn’t for everybody. But for Mary and Roy, if it means the chance of a healthy sibling for 3-year-old Ava, it's worth it.
While it’s possible to test for some adult-onset diseases as well as eye color Doctor Steinberg says it’s best for couples who have a known family disorder that’s genetic in nature or someone with a history of miscarriage.
BACKGROUND: Genetic testing may be performed for a variety of reasons. The most common includes screening embryos for disease, checking to see if an unborn baby has a genetic disease, testing adults for genetic diseases before symptoms show, to find out whether a person carries a gene for a hereditary disease that may pass on to their children, or to confirm a diagnosis in a person who is showing signs or symptoms of a disease. All of this can be done by using a DNA sample taken from a person's blood, body fluids or tissues. Genetic tests look for alterations in a person's genes or changes in the level of key proteins coded for by specific genes. Abnormal results may mean that individual has inherited a disorder.
HOW IT WORKS: Every cell of the body has a full set of chromosomes and identical genes, with few exceptions. Microarrays are a new technique that allows a large number of different genetic sequences to be arranged on a slide so they can then be used to indentify specific sequences in an unknown mix of either DNA or RNA. When the genetic sequences are laid out on a slide, each piece of DNA is placed in an orderly arrangement. Microarrays may be used to examine gene expression within a single sample or to compare gene expression in two different cell types or tissue samples, such as to compare healthy and diseased tissue. The use of microarrays may also speed the identification of genes involved in the development of various diseases by enabling scientists to examine a much larger number of genes. The microarray actually characterizes the nature of the gene and the nature of the defect. The codes are examined on the genes and any errors in the genes code are displayed.
CONTROVERSIAL? Some experts say this form of genetic testing allows parents to "design" children. Other experts condemn similar tests that allow parents to select the gender of their unborn child. A study and ethics opinion by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists condemned all indications of elective gender selection as devaluing women and sexist. Researchers looked into this further by investigating gender tendencies among couples who underwent IVF in 2006. They found Chinese, Arab/Muslim and Asian-Indian couples most often selected males. Other ethnicities actually seemed to prefer selecting a female.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
The Fertility Institutes
Encino, CA
(818) 728-4600
director@fertility-docs.com
