Data on 10,000 BRACAnalysis tests published.(Brief Article)

2002 APR 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Myriad Genetics, Inc., has published the results of testing 10,000 consecutive individuals with its BRACAnalysis predictive medicine test.

The study, entitled, "Clinical Characteristics of Individuals With Germline Mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2: Analysis of 10,000 Individuals" was published in the March 15, 2002, issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology. The study identifies the specific features of a woman's family history that predict the presence of an inherited mutation in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene, which are responsible for most hereditary risk of breast and ovarian cancer. Over their lifetime, more than 80% of high-risk women who carry mutations in these genes develop breast cancer, often before age 50. Women with these mutations are also more than 20 times more likely to develop ovarian cancer than women in the general population.

This study provides an estimate of the prevalence of deleterious BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations in a population selected and tested for the purposes of medical care. One result of the study was a table that can be used by physicians to determine the proportion of women who carry mutations according to specific features of their personal and family history. Overall, women who were tested by their physicians for purposes of medical care were 100 times more likely to carry a mutation than women in the general population, indicating that physicians are able to use a woman's personal and family history to identify those most likely to test positive.

"One of the most interesting findings of this study is that ...