The research is part of a major international scientific collaborative study into the genetic risk of breast, ovarian and prostate cancer, known as the Collaborative Oncological Gene-environment Study (COGS). The study was published in a special issue of Nature Genetics.
Cambridge based health think-tank, the PHG Foundation led work on the implications that the study’s research results have for the people working in health services and the people who use those services.
Principal investigator Dr Hilary Burton, Director of the PHG Foundation, said: “For the last decade scientists have envisaged a future where Genome Wide Association Studies (GWAS) would lead to stratification of populations and improved prevention based on genetic susceptibility. This is the first time one of these major international studies has been associated with a parallel process using real results to investigate the potential impact on population health. Our conclusion is stratified prevention is possible and useful, but is complex. To achieve this vision of the future effective engagement between policy-makers, the public and the researchers is crucial”.
The report authors, all researchers from the PHG Foundation and the Cambridge Institute of Public Health (CIPH), conclude that genetic research can be used to create new and improved stratified screening programmes. However, they warn that stratified screening will be complex, requiring genetic testing and integration of results into a risk assessment process as well as differential care pathways for people in different risk groups.
The full commentary by the PHG Foundation can be read here.
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