Due to the limitation of scientific and technological level, human beings can not completely and accurately detect all diseases through genetic testing. Except for some monogenic diseases, such as retinoblastoma and nephroblastoma, most diseases come from the combined action of genetic and environmental factors, and the pathogenesis of diseases is very complicated and unpredictable.

although genetic testing can find out that someone has a tendency to suffer from certain diseases and analyze the risk of these diseases in the future without symptoms, susceptible genes are not the same as pathogenic genes. The detection of susceptible genes only indicates the probability of illness, but does not mean that the disease will definitely occur.

On the other hand, even without susceptible genes, we can't relax our vigilance against diseases. Many other environmental factors also affect the development of diseases, such as radiation, chemistry, drugs, pollution, living habits and other specific internal and external environmental factors, which may cause gene damage or mutation, thus inducing some diseases.

Don't be credulous about genetic testing in the market

Researchers pointed out in the article that most genetic testing provided directly to consumers will not sequence all genes or genomes of a person, but only focus on specific gene mutations, which may lead to false positive results. Even if the whole genome is sequenced, the gene mutations found often have no clinical significance.

In fact, some genes people carry may increase their disease risk, but there are other genes that can protect them from diseases. Annike Lucassen, a professor of medical genetics at the University of Southampton, explained that some people go to the hospital with the genetic test results that show that they have a higher risk of cancer and other diseases, and ask for an appointment for surgery to reduce the risk of cancer. However, detailed technical tests at the hospital found that they did not need surgery at all.

On the other hand, because most consumer-grade genetic tests only screen a small number of gene mutations, they are not comprehensive, and the "reassuring" results they show are not credible. Previously, a woman with a family history of breast cancer and ovarian cancer did not find BRCA gene mutations associated with the two cancers through consumer-grade genetic testing, but other cancer-causing gene mutations were found through other tests.