Since last century, newborn babies have
gotten a heel-prick test in which their blood is screened for dozens of
congenital diseases. Routine newborn baby screening has basically eliminated
the risk of death or irreversible brain damage that some of these disorders can
pose if they are not identified right away. Even though, it has brought about great
controversies in this field.
Last December, Mercy Children’s Hospital of Kansa released its results
of genome sequencing for sick new born babies on Science Translational
Medicine. In this research, they practiced whole genome sequencing or exome
sequencing for children with severe neurological developmental disorders from
100 families, among which there are families that have been seeking for diagnostic methods
for their children for years. According to the data, 45% of the families have
experienced genome sequencing. Moreover, 73% of the babies with congenital
disease have accepted this brand new testing approach.
Doctor Stephen F. Kingsmore, leader of
this project hopes that the whole genome sequencing project could be carried on to around 14% of
the newborns observed in ICU among the total 4 million per year.
Researchers from the USA are also investigating families’ attitudes
towards genome sequencing. Last December, they made a research on parents of
514 healthy babies born within the past 48 hours in Brigham and Women's
Hospital. This research was aimed to get a general knowledge of how much do
these parents know about their babies’ genome information, risks of getting
genetic diseases and the meaning of genome information. While being asked about
whether they would be willing to attend the project of whole genome sequencing
for newborn babies, results showed that 83% said yes and were happy to be in
this project.
Moreover, Donald Chaplin
of Acton, the farther a 17 months old baby, was also interested in it. He
himself is a pharmacist, and he worried that the gene data might have the risk
of been misused. Even though, he still wants to learn more about the gene
information of his son. Jamaican engineer Nicholas Catella, however, said that
he wouldn’t care much about the result unless it shows that his babies have
great risks of getting severe diseases. Mr. Catella has two children, one is
three old and the other 16months. He knows that gene sequencing is able to
reveal the risks of getting chronic diseases like
Alzheimer's, but we do have no good invention methods at present.
We hope, one day when this new testing skill develops greatly, that the
gene sequencing data since the birth of babies can accompany throughout all
their life, and that gene sequencing can lead the growing process of newborn
babies.
