Melbourne-based molecular diagnostics company Genetic Technologies (ASX: GTG) has announced publication of a new study in support of the BREVAGenplus breast cancer risk assessment test for women.
The results were published online in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention last week.
The study investigated the impact of 77 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) on the predictive accuracy of the Breast Cancer Risk Assessment Tool (BCRAT, also known as the Gail Model) and other commonly used breast cancer risk assessment models.
The study was conducted under the supervision of Professor John Hopper and first authored by Dr Gillian Dite from the Centre for Molecular Epidemiology at The University of Melbourne.
The authors utilised the Australian Breast Cancer Family Registry to conduct a case-control study of 1,155 women aged between 35 and 50 years.
A key outcome from the study was demonstrating that including information on 77 SNPs associated with breast cancer risk improves the discriminatory accuracy of BCRAT (AUC improved by >20 per cent), and extends that observation to other commonly used risk assessment models.
All of these 77 SNPs are integrated into the company’s BREVAGenplus breast cancer risk assessment test.
The company said the new risk prediction scores presented in the study are now the strongest known means available to physicians to assess the risk of a woman developing breast cancer.
“I’m extremely pleased with the results from this study as it firmly places the Company at the forefront of SNP-based risk assessment,” said Mr Eutillio Buccilli, Chief Executive Officer of Genetic Technologies.
The company said the new publication provides compelling scientific evidence indicating that improved risk assessment has the potential to substantially lower the impact of breast cancer.
Genetic Technologies is developing additional through clinical studies, the first of which is scheduled to begin in Q2 FY16 with completion expected before the end of FY16. Two longer-term clinical trials are also expected to commence during the current financial year and are designed to run for up to two years. One of the longer term studies will be prospective in design, looking at patient outcomes, with the other being retrospective, assessing the impact of the test on MRI screening rates.