A panel recommends that metastatic prostate cancer patients and others with a family history of cancer should consider genetic testing, as Precision Oncology News reports.
The recommendations appearing in the Journal of Clinical Oncology this week grew out of the international Philadelphia Prostate Cancer Consensus Conference 2019, which discussed who should undergo prostate cancer genetic testing and which genes that testing should encompass. In JCO, the panel, led by Thomas Jefferson University's Leonard Gomella, recommends testing metastatic prostate cancer patients and those whose family history indicates hereditary prostate cancer. They further recommend prioritizing testing at BRCA2, BRCA1, and the DNA mismatch repair genes for those with metastatic disease as the results could inform treatments or clinical trials.
Additionally, they recommended BRCA2 testing for men with non-metastatic disease, as it could inform active surveillance discussions, and BRCA2 and HOXB13 testing for men with a family history of prostate cancer, as those results could influence early prostate cancer detection discussions.
"Urologists who are on the front lines of the diagnosis of prostate cancer need to be familiar with these rapidly evolving genetic testing recommendations," Gomella said in a statement, according to Medpage Today. "This includes the proper ordering of prostate cancer gene panel testing and the utilization of appropriate genetic counseling."