Inexpensive screening for germline mutations to personalize treatment

If anyone orders this test, please post about it. Most metastatic guys (88%) will be negative on all 30 genes, but for the few that are positive, this could be important. Also, please post if you are going for one of the PARP inhibitor trials or platin therapy.

TA.....thanks for this post. Is this something just for metastatic guys or would it be something a guy like me with low PSA high risk PC to look into, especially when I don't have a surgical pathology. Also is this something that would help a person that has a high % of family cancer in their history?
I'm heading to Seattle on the 15th of this month to meet with Dr. Peter Nelson at UofW . I would like some knowledge about genetic testing before I meet with him as this is one of many reason we are going over.

Thanks - mark

Artist Mark-

What would be the point of genetic testing for you now, after you've been successfully treated? Tests like this are only useful if it makes a difference in treatment. Otherwise, they are at best useless, but potentially a source of unnecessary anxiety. I know UWSeattle is trying to build a database - but ask yourself if there is really any benefit for you in this.

Gemlin-

Did you read the article? It applies to Color Genomics only.There are many different genetic analyses on the market - you'd have to evaluate the one that you are getting.

I went to the Color company's website and browsed around:

/www.color.com/product/color-genetic-tests

I think it is quite a useful genetic test in general because it tests for many gene mutations, not just those for prostate cancer. In fact, for prostate cancer, having the BRCA2 gene only slightly increases your risk of prostate cancer, but having the APC mutation dramatically increases the risk of colorectal cancer. Knowing your risk should you have the APC mutation may affect, say, the frequency of colonoscopy. Additionally knowing that I have any mutations at all may be useful information for children or relatives.

For a treated PC patient with persistent or rising PSA, having the BRCA2 or CHK2 mutations may also be a useful test to help determine the aggressiveness of the disease. Particularly, the likelihood of local vs metastatic spread although a full genetic test like PROLARIS would be getter, albeit much more expensive. This may affect the decision to have radiation early in the search for a cure.

For me specifically, I think I will probably get the test. I've had a polyp removed in a colonoscopy so knowing if I have colon cancer related mutations might affect the frequency of me and my siblings colonoscopies. I also have persistent PSA immediately post RP, which can point to metastatic disease, but I don't worry about at all because it shows up on only one brand of assay made by Siemens. Knowing that it's undetectable on five other brands of PSA assays is reassuring, but the Color test may reinforce this thought should it show no mutations of BRCA2 and CHK2. I don't think that given my situation, I would actually pay for something like PROLARIS, but at $249, with the benefit of looking at the risk of a few other cancers, it sounds useful.

Allen, some of us have PC without metastases, but have some possibly unfavorable characteristics, which could point to metastases down the road. For $249, if the test shows that we have the mutations, it could actually bring us reassurance rather than additional stress that there is an effective avenue of treatment down the road like the PARP inhibitors. This is different from something like PROLARIS where the result, if negative, could actually bring on more stress.

Weightloss-

That's entirely the patient's choice. What you say is illogical - You already know that if you are carrier, that there are some medicines, so how can learning that one has a potentially deleterious mutation possibly reduce stress? I think it is just a terrible idea, but if it makes you happy - go for it. It's not about the money - even if it were free, it would be a bad idea.