Overall, I’ve had a pretty positive experience ordering and receiving whole genome sequencing results. While I’ve discovered nothing revealing, I’ve found it interesting having my entire genome at my fingertips for research and finding out more about my health. Dante Labs is one of the few companies, if not the only company, offering whole genome sequencing without a doctor’s order. The prices seem decent for this sort of service as well.
When researching genetic causes of my health issues last year, I realized that I would not get the answers I sought from my 23andMe raw data. Only a very small fraction of my genome was sequenced through the 23andMe test I ordered. While I appreciated the results I received and still found them useful, I felt I needed much more. That’s when I decided to seek out whole genome sequencing. Dante Labs was one of the first sites I checked. While the test would cost several hundred dollars, I was drawn to trying it because it would not require a doctor’s order. At the beginning of May 2019, I placed an order for a kit from Dante Labs. It came in the mail rather quickly, and as soon as I could, I followed the directions to get my sample ready to mail, and I sent it off. It was about a week or so, maybe a couple of weeks, when I got an e-mail saying that my sample had been received. At that point started the long wait for my results.
In August, at about the point that results were supposed to be ready, I began to become concerned because my sample had not yet undergone quality control inspection. I tried to reach out to the company to make sure that my sample had not been lost. The people who responded to my messages said that my sample was fine and just undergoing QA processing. Not too long after that, I got e-mails saying there would be a delay in getting my results. There was a huge backlog of orders due to the company using third-party labs to do the sequencing, and the company was doing all it could to work through the backlog. Results should be ready sometime in October. October came and went. There had been no status change since my sample was first received; it was still awaiting quality control inspection. I reached out again to ask about my results. Someone responded about my sample being at a third-party lab, and the person promised to have a new kit sent. A new kit never came. After trying to reach out to the company again, I found out that the samples at the third-party labs had been sent to the company’s own brand new lab to be sequenced in-house. I found out in December that my results should be ready in about a month. At the beginning of February, I still had not received any results. When I asked for a status, the person who responded said they were preparing my files. It was not long after that point that my files were finally made available! I decided to subscribe to their bronze package to get updates to my reports and to create an account at sequencing.com in order to read through my genetic information and run other reports. Due to the significant delay in receiving my results, Dante Labs gave me a free report in addition to the ones that were already included.
It was easy to get my Dante Labs account set up with sequencing.com. I was able to log in to my Dante Labs account from there, and sequencing.com was then able to pull the data files from my account. I signed up for the least expensive account option that would allow me to use a limited number of apps each month. I’ve used the Genome Explorer, Rare Diseases Screen, the Essential Minerals Report, and the APOE Brain Health DNA Report. The reports didn’t reveal anything earth-shattering, although some of the reports contain information that might explain some of the issues I’ve been experiencing. For example, one report indicated that I was at an increased risk for iron deficiency. Another suggested that I avoid oxidative stress, and yet another said that I should optimize my intake of vitamin E. Whether these could actually be the root of my dietary issues with copper and iron is not really something I can determine. The extra report from Dante Labs was an oxidative stress report, and there was nothing revealing in it.
Right now, my biggest disappointment with the whole genome sequencing is the fact that it didn’t really reveal any clear-cut cause(s) to the dietary issues I’m experiencing. The fact that I could have so much trouble with iron supplements and that the doctors to whom I’ve tried to explain the issues didn’t seem to know what I was saying really seemed to suggest that something uncommon was happening. It’s possible that there are variants in my genome yet to be studied that could very well explain this issue. Using the Genome Explorer on sequencing.com, I found on position 52002603 of the ATP7B gene that I was homozygous for the minor (risk) allele. From what I could tell from the information available, it was the only location on that gene where I was homozygous for the minor allele. Others were either heterozygous or homozygous for the major allele. Could this possibly be an undiscovered pathogenic variant for Wilson’s Disease? Could any of the heterozygous variants be a potential cause? It may also be that I’m just looking in the wrong places. At any rate, I will probably just have to wait for updates to my reports to reveal anything substantive.
For anyone looking to have whole genome sequencing done, I definitely suggest checking out Dante Labs. They run discounts at times. It seems like Black Friday discounts are really popular. For those with an existing account, Dante Labs will send out e-mails about promotions and provide discount codes. I made the mistake of not checking my e-mail before ordering a very expensive panel of reports and ended up missing out on a discount code that would have saved me a lot of money! I also recommend investing in a USB drive to store the raw data files so they’ll be locally available. I saved all my data files to a 512 GB USB drive. The biggest issue with Dante Labs is the potential for delays. Things may be better now that they’re now doing sequencing in their own lab(s), but those of us who were unfortunately part of the backlog ended up waiting months or even over a year for our results. My wait ended up being nearly nine months! Dante Labs has groups on Facebook that may be helpful for current customers or those considering becoming customers. Dante Labs Customer Care is the official group for customer support. Dante Labs and Nebula Genomics Customers is an unofficial group for customers and potential customers to have various questions answered.
My experience with whole genome sequencing has on the whole been a positive one, and I look forward to future research allowing me to receive updated information that will hopefully reveal genetic causes to at least some of my health issues!
If you like this post, please consider subscribing by e-mail and/or grabbing the RSS feed. Feel free to comment on this post or use my contact form to send me a message. Also, please consider sharing this post to your favorite social media sites. Thanks!
RSS - Posts
