The Ministry of Health informed through a press release that the Children’s Hospital of Mexico ‘Federico Gomez’ will be the first in the country to have a sequencer of the genetic behavior of patients. This gene sequencing machine is able to produce the diagnosis of rare diseases, birth defects and some cancers in just 29 hours.
The General Director of Children’s Hospital, José Alberto Garcia Aranda, explained that this genome sequencer, known as NexSeq 500, was acquired with the support of this Institution’s Board, and that this achievement represents significant progress in the care for diseases that are difficult to diagnose.
He said that this genome sequencer is the third in operation in the country and the first in a Mexican hospital. This machine will show the genes responsible for resistance to treatment, and will ensure an individualized prescription to guarantee an effective diagnosis.
According to Garcia Aranda, the costs of this study will be absorbed by the hospital, because the patients come from low-income families and do not have the protection of a social security system.
Dr. Jesus Aguirre, Head of the laboratory of Genomics, Genetics and Bioinformatics at this hospital, explained that the new sequencer will analyzed Mendelian diseases (inherited diseases that are caused by mutations in one gene), particularly, progressive blindness, children with growth problems, neurofibromatosis and deafness, among others. The specialist said that this new generation equipment will allow the identification of genomic alterations or tumor cells mutations associated with these diagnoses.
Aguirre said that in six weeks the sequencer will begin to operate and it is estimated that will serve for just over 200 cases a year. He added that during the first half of 2015, the Children’s Hospital of Mexico projects to sequencing the exome of a first group of patients, consisting of nine-years-old children with neoplasms or a Mendelian disease. This provides a significant advantage because doctors will work with several different samples instead of just concentrating on one, as it was done in the past.
Source: Secretaría de Salud (Mexico’s Ministry of Health)
