JAMA: scientists found six mutations associated with increased risk of pancreatic cancer

June 24, 2018 / bioun / - according to a new study published in JAMA by Mayo Clinic, six genes carrying mutations and may be inherited will continue to increase a person's risk of pancreatic cancer But because the researchers found these mutations in people without a family history of pancreatic cancer, they recommended gene testing as a new standard of care for all pancreatic cancer patients Photo source: at present, Mayo Clinic only provides gene testing for patients with a family history of pancreatic cancer, but this only accounts for 1 / 10 of pancreatic cancer patients The study found that these genetic testing guidelines led 90% of pancreatic cancer patients without a family history to miss the genetic testing This finding is important in part because it suggests that family members should be tested for DNA to understand their risk of cancer "Now this study provides the most comprehensive data to date, suggesting that all pancreatic cancer patients should be tested for genes." Dr Fergus couch, senior author of the study, said "This is the first study to estimate the risk of cancer and the closeness of each gene It shows that family history of cancer does not accurately predict who carries these mutations " "Many genes increase the risk of pancreatic cancer But if only patients with a family history of pancreatic cancer are tested for genes, only a small number of patients will benefit " Gloria Petersen, PhD, a Mayo Clinic researcher and another senior author of the study From 2000 to 2016, 3030 patients with pancreatic cancer were tested in Mayo Clinic The researchers compared the results of 21 oncogenes with those of 123000 patients without pancreatic cancer The results showed that there were six genes associated with increased risk of pancreatic cancer: BRCA1, BRCA2, CDKN2A, TP53, MLH1 and ATM 5.5% of patients had mutations in these genes, including 5.2% of patients without family history of pancreatic cancer Patients with these mutations have a significantly increased risk of pancreatic cancer, but that doesn't mean that these mutations contribute to the development of the disease "The results of this study give us a clearer understanding of the molecular mechanism behind the genetic factors that cause pancreatic cancer." Raed Samara, Ph.D., of Qiagen Sciences Inc., the study's author, said "Obtaining these comprehensive data requires special gene sequencing and in-depth analysis of a range of carcinogenic genes As a result of this study, we can now more accurately predict the risk of cancer due to these mutations than before " Qiagen Sciences Inc designed the gene test program in this study Usually pancreatic cancer can only be accurately diagnosed in the late stage, but it has been transferred to all parts of the body According to the American Cancer Society, 55000 Americans are expected to be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer this year, and 44000 Americans will die of pancreatic cancer Resources: team discovers gene mutations linked to pancreatic cancer