Nice one, thanks for sharing!The Australian diagnostics company Genetic Technologies Limited is preparing to launch “world’s first” risk assessment test for breast and ovarian cancer.
The test evaluates women’s risk of developing breast and ovarian cancer either from a hereditary genetic mutation or from the far more common familial or sporadic cancer.
The company says this approach “appends” the detection of the 13 major actionable breast and ovarian cancer susceptibility genes to its cancer test platform, advancing the goal of providing population-based genetic screening.
Globally, there are more than 2.26 million cases of breast cancer and 313,000 cases of ovarian cancer diagnosed annually.
In the US there are 297,790 new cases of invasive breast cancer that are diagnosed annually and 19,880 women diagnosed with ovarian cancer.
Currently women are under-screened and underdiagnosed for risk of hereditary breast and ovarian cancer syndrome (HBOC) based on their clinical criteria.
There is considerable evidence that these criteria do not capture all women who are HBOC carriers.
One recent general population screen among more than 6,000 women found that of 38 HBOC carriers identified nearly half would not have qualified for HBOC testing based on clinical criteria and their elevated risk of cancer would not have been identified.
The risk assessment, developed by Genetic Technologies (GTG), is performed from a single saliva sample and aims to inform women of their risk profile and give them the opportunity to take proactive actions to increase screening and lessen their risk of developing the two types of cancer.
“GTG believes this comprehensive risk test for breast and ovarian cancer is one of our most important and significant contributions to the advancement of population-based genetic testing,” said CEO, Simon Morriss.
“We are moving beyond rare cancer-susceptibility genetics. We can look for the needle in the haystack, but we are also able to look at the haystack itself.
“Our non-invasive risk assessment test will address cancer risk at a population health level.”
The company says the test will be clinically validated and have appropriate regulatory approval and will be showcased at the BRCA 2023 Symposium in Montreal in May.
