The world renowned Department of Genetics - the UK ™s top rated research Genetics department where DNA genetic fingerprinting was discovered - has published a paper, Inadvertent diagnosis of male infertility through genealogical DNA testing, in the Journal of Medical Genetics.

Report author Professor Mark Jobling warns that DNA testing to disclose family history runs the risk of revealing whether or not you can procreate - and he warns commercial companies to steer clear of this level of genetic detail in their genealogical searches.

Professor Jobling said:

More and more people are turning to DNA testing to throw light on their ancestry, or genealogical relationships. Much of this testing is of DNA markers on the Y chromosome in men, and companies are vying with each other to offer more sophisticated tests with more and more markers.

However, some of these markers lie in regions of the Y chromosome that can be lost, causing male infertility. So in principle, a genealogical DNA test can actually diagnose infertility in a client.

In our study of over 3000 men we show that these kinds of 'deletions' can indeed be found in ordinary population samples, rather than selected men from fertility clinics, highlighting this as an ethical issue. We recommend that testing companies avoid markers that lie in the commonly deleted regions.

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Results of the study led by Dr. Antoch and Joseph S. Takahashi, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator at Northwestern University, are available online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The paper will be published in the journal ™s print edition at a later date.

Moving forward, the researchers will seek to understand the exact molecular signals sent from the body ™s circadian rhythm to the immune system to look for useful drug targets and for drugs that can improve the effectiveness of therapies by manipulating the body ™s internal clock.

The researchers will work in close collaboration with the laboratory of Andrei Gudkov, Ph.D., in The Cleveland Clinic Department of Molecular Genetics and with Cleveland BioLabs Inc., a Clinic spin-off company developing new therapies to decrease the harmful side effects of cancer treatments.

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