New screen test for breast cancer genes
Breast cancer sufferers may soon be able to undergo a simple and inexpensive test to see if they carry one of two breast cancer genes which may predispose them to the hereditary form of the disease.
The genes put women with breast cancer at a much greater risk of developing other cancers in the same or other breast, in addition to ovarian cancer.
Screening for the defective genes, based on a special protein called a monoclonal antibody, will help identify those patients who might benefit from a more thorough test, not usually adopted because it is slow and expensive.
Currently, women with a family history of breast cancer or ovarian cancer must undergo genetic sequencing to determine if they carry damaged versions of the breast cancer genes known as BRCA1 or BRCA2. These raise their risk of cancer to as much as 80 percent over their lifetime. But the testing takes several weeks to complete and can be costly.
Most patients with breast cancer who are at risk for mutations in the genes - about 5 to 10 percent of women - do not undergo sequencing.
"The thinking is, if we can develop a screening test for women with a diagnosis of breast cancer - to determine if they have a high probability of harboring an alteration in BRCA1 - then we could identify those patients at high risk for inheriting the damaged gene," says Dr Bruce Turner from Jefferson University in Philadelphia, USA.
"These women would then be counselled to go on to sequencing to find the exact mutation that is causing the cancer."
This is important because patients with breast cancer who have mutations in BRCA1 or BRCA2 may be better candidates for certain types of therapy.
Dr Turner and his group have begun designing a larger study to examine their proposed screening test.