There are many kinds of tests that can be done. Ambry Genetics is a CLIA certified lab focusing on genetic testing for hereditary cancer syndromes. www.ambrygen.com (1-800-262-7943) Many of these tests are as low as $200.00 They have excellent customer service. Some are not blood tests but tests that you can send away for and return.
There are NGS Panels whereas they test different genes. then there are disease specific tests that test various genes.
What is the BREASTNEXT (Heritary Breast Cancer) Test? BREASTNEXT may be the test for you if there are cases of breast and/or ovarian cancer in 3 or more close relatives. If you have had the previous test identified with no mutation of the BRCA1/2 gene. If there is a variant of unknown significance (VUS) was detected in your BRACA1/2 genes. If breast cancer was diagnosed at a young age (less than 50), if you have a personal or family history of one individual with two or more cancers (with breast or ovarian in at least one of the cases) and if there is a family history of male breast cancer.
Whose at risk of BREASTNEXT genes? You are at 19-20 fold risk after the negative BRCA1/2 gene and you have a family history. The next high risk genes they can test on this panel include all of the following: TP53 (L-Fraumeni Syndrome). PTEN (Cowden Syndrome), and STK1 (Peutz-Jeghers Syndrome). This test is used on the following genes: ATM, BARD1, BRIP1, MRE11A, PALB2, NBN, RADSO, RADS1C, STK11, CHEK2 (CHEK2-Related Cancer) , PTEN (Cowden Sydrome), TP53 (Li-Fraumeni Syndrome), CDH1 (Hereitary Diffuse Gastric Cancer), MUTYH.
If we look at the 4-5-2 fold risk these are the intermediate breast cancer genes: CDH1 (Heritary Diffuse Gastric Cancer), ATM, PALB2 (PALB2 Related Cancer), MRElla, BRIP1, RADSO, BARD1, NBN, RADS1C, CHEK2, MUTHY.
There are other cancer panels. There is OvaNext for hereditary breast, ovarian and uterine cancer. There is ColoNext for Hereditary Colorectal Cancer. There is CancerNext for hereditary cancer syndromes.
As we all know some people in a family can have a gene and others may not. This is true with the Lynch Syndrome. The genes affected by it are MLH1, KSH2, MSH6, EPCAM, PMS2. Colon and endometrial cancer is very prominent in these families. Other cancers can be as well. These are the two most pronounced.
There are support groups for everyday questions patients may have: