Over 15 million people have taken a 23andMe test. Many believe they've had their genome sequenced. They haven't — and the distinction matters enormously if they ever need precision cancer treatment.
23andMe uses a process called genotyping that reads approximately 600,000 specific positions in your DNA. Your genome contains 3 billion base pairs. That means 23andMe reads about 0.02% of your genetic code. Whole genome sequencing reads essentially all of it.
Cancer mutations can occur anywhere in your 3 billion base pairs. A tumor might be driven by a mutation in a position that 23andMe doesn't even look at. When an oncologist needs to compare your tumor genome against your healthy baseline to identify targetable mutations, they need the complete sequence — not a sample of 0.02%.
Personalized cancer vaccines require knowing your MHC profile — the proteins that determine which tumor fragments your immune system can recognize. Standard genotyping services do not provide MHC typing. Without it, designing a personalized vaccine is impossible. Whole genome sequencing captures your MHC data as part of the complete sequence.
The risk is that people who've taken a 23andMe test believe they're covered for future medical applications. They're not. Ancestry genotyping was designed to tell you about your heritage, not to serve as a medical resource. If you want your genome to work for you in a cancer scenario, you need whole genome sequencing — and you need it stored somewhere accessible.
Related: ReadyGenome vs. 23andMe · MHC Typing Explained · View Pricing
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