Genetic testing could determine which young breast cancer survivors are at highest risk of a second primary breast cancer (SPBC) and thus help others avoid unnecessary treatment, according to a new study. Their findings suggests young breast cancer survivors without a germline pathogenic variant have a low risk of developing…

A new process tested at University of Kentucky (UK) expands access to germline genetic testing for cancer patients by reporting research-grade germline sequencing to the clinical oncology team. Over a third of pathogenic/likely pathogenic germline variants (PGVs) identified using a universal testing strategy would have been missed by a guideline-based…

Medical genetics company Invitae announced that data from its PROCLAIM clinical trial shows the benefit of pathogenic germline variant (PGV) testing for all prostate cancer patients. According to the data, nearly half of all prostate cancer patients with clinically actionable inherited PGVs could be missing out on vital, targeted care…

A large-scale, longitudinal, study found that less than seven percent of cancer patients received germline genetic testing, even though it is recommended by practice guidelines to support targeted treatment and inform health decisions by relatives. The authors, who included researchers from Stanford and University of Michigan, noted that genetic testing…

While working as a principal scientist at Celgene in the mid-2010s, Tomas Babak, PhD, found himself deeply frustrated with consistently failing at translational development—taking knowledge of a disease target to develop a human-compatible drug. “I got a chance to work on drugs that were going straight into phase one clinical…

The concept of walking into any clinic in the world, getting a blood draw to detect an early-stage tumor, and, if necessary, starting treatment to nip a solid malignancy in the bud has gotten just a little bit closer to becoming a reality. Labcorp, a global laboratory services company, and…

Many breast cancer survivors eligible for genetic counseling and testing are not receiving it according to a new study from the University of Michigan (U-M) Health Rogel Cancer Center. This is increasingly important as cancer treatment and follow up are getting more complex as more new drugs are being introduced.…

Offering clinical whole-genome sequencing (WGS) to every child with suspected cancer changes the treatment plan in around one in 14 patients, suggests an analysis of data from two English hospitals where the test is routinely offered. Senior author, professor Sam Behjati, from the Wellcome Sanger Institute, Cambridge University Hospitals, and…

Encouraging results from this trial were presented at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting 2024 by Timothy Yap, MBBS, PhD, of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Specifically, Yap reported that saruparib demonstrated early efficacy and a favorable safety profile in patients with HRR-deficient breast…

A new qualitative study of how to properly prepare cancer patients for unanticipated inheritable genetic findings found their emotions ranged from gratitude to regret based on how much genetic counseling they received prior to tumor sequencing. These findings from research conducted by City of Hope with support from the American…

Researchers at the Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR), and the University Health Network (UHN) have developed a liquid biopsy that an initial study has shown provides earlier detection cancer in individuals with Li-Fraumeni syndrome (LFS) than existing methods. LFS is hereditary disorder that…

The FDA has approved the first blood test that can help identify hundreds of potentially cancer-associated hereditary variants. The Invitae Common Hereditary Cancers Panel evaluates a blood sample to identify DNA variants in 47 genes associated with an elevated risk of developing certain types of cancer. The agency has granted de…

As he devises a tiny plasmonic nanopore system to capture even rare antigens and their ligands from tumors, George Alexandrakis is toiling at the vanguard of cancer research. The University of Texas at Arlington bioengineering professor is developing a way of using even very small samples of tissue or blood…

New research published today in JNCCN‑Journal of the National Comprehensive Care Network adds more evidence to how the lack of genomic research for people of African Ancestry continues to negatively affect efforts to reduce disparities in cancer care for this group of patients. The researchers note that this is especially…

A research team led by the University of Portsmouth in the U.K. has discovered that the Duchenne muscular dystrophy gene DMD is expressed differently in a range of different cancers in addition to causing the inherited degenerative muscle disease. As reported in the journal Cancers, they found that many cancerous…