Late-Onset Diseases

This type of testing is done to determine whether you have a greater chance of having diseases that show up later in life (late-onset diseases). If you have a relative who has the disease, information from these tests can help you make decisions about preventing or slowing the progress of the disease.

Genetic testing is used to identify the risk of late-onset diseases such as:

• Breast cancer and ovarian cancer (BRCA-1 and BRCA-2 testing).
• Familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP), which causes abnormal growths inside the colon and increases your risk of colorectal cancer.
• Huntington's disease, a rare disease that causes premature, severe deterioration of the brain.

Identification

Genetic testing used to determine the biological parent of a child is called DNA fingerprinting. It is also often used to help solve crimes by determining whether crime scene DNA evidence could be the same as the suspect's DNA.

DNA fingerprinting has been used to identify unknown people, such as military personnel killed in action or crime victims. DNA fingerprinting is more accurate for this purpose than dental records, blood type, traditional fingerprinting, or ID tags.