New £10 breast cancer test hope
Updated on 17 September 2008
An "exciting" new test for hereditary breast cancer which costs as little as £10 per patient could be available by next year, according to a leading cancer expert.
Currently women being tested for cancer-causing mutations in two specific genes known as BRCA1 and BRCA2 must undergo expensive full genetic sequencing, which can take up to 18 weeks to complete.
A new procedure is now being tested out which could allow scientists to focus on the two genes for study, cutting costs and reducing the time spent on the process.
The technique makes use of "next generation" sequencing, which allows several samples of DNA to be screened at a time and can be completed in just one week.
Until now, next generation technologies were used to scan the entire genetic sequence more quickly, but scientists are now attempting to use it to search for gene changes in a tiny fraction of people's genetic make-up.
According to Professor Graham Taylor, head of Genomic Services at Cancer Research UK, this "next generation" sequencing could reduce current costs by up to 99% and deliver major medical advances.
Prof Taylor, who is helping try out the new approach with staff from Yorkshire and Wessex Regional Genetics Laboratories, said: "It's important for two reasons - to minimise the period when someone's anxious about the result, and I suppose because the sooner you make decisions the better it is. It should mean reduced waiting times and that means people can start making decisions about their choices for the future."
He added: "It's what we can do with new technology. It's exciting and promising and it will enable the tests to go ahead more easily than they do at the moment."
An estimated 5 to 10% of breast cancer patients have an inheritable form of breast cancer due to a mutation in either their BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene.
In their normal state, these genes protect against cancer in the cell, but women who carry a mutation in either of the genes have up to an 80% chance of developing cancer during their lifetimes.
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