Description
Invitae Hereditary MultiCancer 70 Gene Test
A DIY saliva home genetic test or blood test for mutations in 70 genes associated with hereditary cancer across eight major organ systems: breast cancer, gynae cancer, gastric cancer, bowel cancer, endocrine, genitourinary cancer, prostate cancer, skin cancer or melanoma, brain/nervous system, sarcoma and haematological cancer.
All of us have a 1 in 2 lifetime risk of cancer. Most are due to environmental or lifestyle factors and, here in the UK, we have a range of excellent national screening programmes to identify some cancers as early as possible when treatment can often be most effective.
- About 10-15% of cancers are due to inherited genetic mutations and so knowing if you have a genetic mutation can be important in helping to assess your risk of getting cancer (and also of developing cardiovascular disease).
- It also helps you and your clinicians to develop a personalised plan designed to prevent or detect cancers such as breast, ovarian or colorectal cancer.
Your family and relatives could also benefit – if you’re carrying a genetic mutation then there is a 50% chance that each of your parents, siblings and children could be carrying it too.
Having the Invitae Hereditary Cancer Multicancer Test
Having a test is a straight-forward process:
- the test is based on either a saliva sample (a ‘spit-test’) or a blood test
- if your clinic offers our tests, then you can request it from them (you’ll book with them, pay them, they will undertake the test with you and talk to you about your results)
- you can request a test directly from us (you book with us, pay us, we’ll send a test kit to you at home, we’ll provide a pre-test consultation, arrange a phlebotomist if you are having a blood test and talk to you about your results and we can refer you for a post-test counselling session with a Consultant in Genetics if your result is positive)
Test description
The Invitae Multi-Cancer Panel analyzes genes that are associated primarily with adult-onset, non-syndromic cancer predisposition conditions across major organ systems including, but not limited to, breast, gynecologic (ovarian, uterine/endometrial), gastrointestinal (colorectal or colon cancer, gastric cancer, pancreatic cancer), endocrine (thyroid cancer, parathyroid, pituitary, adrenal glands), genitourinary (renal/urinary tract, prostate), skin (melanoma, basal cell carcinoma), and brain/nervous system. The genetic heterogeneity associated with these cancers can make it difficult to use phenotype as the sole criterion to select a definitive cause. Some genes in this test may also be associated with additional unrelated conditions, which are not included in the list of disorders tested. Genetic testing of these genes may help confirm a clinical diagnosis, help predict disease prognosis and progression, facilitate early detection of symptoms, inform family planning and genetic counselling, or promote enrolment in clinical trials.
This test is specifically designed for heritable germline mutations and is not appropriate for the detection of somatic mutations in tumour tissue.
Click here to learn more on the Invitae website!
Click here to learn more about Understanding Hereditary Cancer!
