Genomic knowledge and the future for cancer screening

Cambridge-based PHG Foundation, as part of a European-wide collaboration, has been investigating how information from a range of sources, including our genes, may help an individual to decide whether screening is right for her or him.

While the risks and benefits of screening programmes are the subject of current public interest, behind the scenes scientists, researchers and public health policy shapers continue to investigate ways to improve diagnosis, prevention and treatment.

The recent report from CRUK highlights the importance of providing better information in order to enable individuals – women in the case of breast cancer screening, the subject of the report - to make decisions about whether or not to be screened and potentially undergo treatment.

One source of information is our genes. While the much hyped revolution in personalised medicine is still some way off, the stratification of risk, using genetic variants and other factors offers the prospect of improving the effectiveness of screening programmes and achieving a better balance between harms and benefits.

Stratification is not necessarily anything new – cancer screening programmes have long been based on targeting populations according to age – in the UK, breast cancer screening is routinely offered to women between 50-70 (currently in the process of being extended to 47-73).

However, the Cambridge-based PHG Foundation, as part of a European-wide collaboration, has been investigating how information gathered from additional sources, including our genes, can best be used to improve guidance to individuals who have been offered screening for cancer.

The topic will be up for discussion at the forthcoming PHG conference, Translating genomics: Making science work for health. At the conference, Professor Sir Bruce Ponder of Cambridge University, who led the research consortium that laid the groundwork for the discovery of the BRCA breast cancer genes, will be speaking on the implications the ability to predict risk through genetic knowledge has for public health.

The one day conference Translating genomics: Making science work for health, is on 4 December 2012 at Robinson College, Cambridge. www.phgfoundation.org/15years

The findings from the European Collaborative Oncological Gene-environment Study (COGS), in which the PHG Foundation is leading one of the work packages, will be published in 2013.

 About PHG Foundation

The PHG Foundation is a not for profit think tank based in Cambridge and with a global reach. Our aim is to make science work for health be identifying the barriers to innovation and uncovering solutions for implementation that are safe, effective and equitable.
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Contact rebecca.bazeley@phgfoundation.org

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