Hereditary Cancer Testing

Genetic testing yields a wealth of information about your risk for developing hereditary breast, ovarian, uterine, colorectal, gastric, prostate, melanoma, and pancreatic cancers. With 5-10% of all cancer estimated to be hereditary, more and more Canadians with early cancer diagnoses or family histories of cancer are considering genetic testing from LifeLabs, so they can learn more about their risks ahead of time.

About Genetic testing
Who is this test for?
It’s estimated that 1/2 of men and 1/3 of women will develop a cancer in their lifetime. Genetic testing may be appropriate if you or a close family member has:

• Breast, colorectal, or uterine cancer diagnosed before age 50
• More than one type of cancer
• Cancer in both of a set of paired organs (for example, both kidneys or both breasts
• Certain types of cancer including ovarian, pancreatic, metastatic prostate, intraductal prostate, medullary thyroid, triple-negative breast or male breast cancer)
• 10+ gastrointestinal polyps
• Breast or high grade prostate cancer (Gleason score >7)
• Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry

What is this test used for?
Analysis of hereditary cancer genes involves a step-by-step look through the DNA of each gene for changes, known as mutations. LifeLabs’ hereditary cancer panels offers a pan-cancer screening approach that includes full sequencing and copy number variant analyses of 47 of the more common genes associated with increased risk of developing hereditary breast, ovarian, uterine, colorectal, gastric, prostate, melanoma and pancreatic cancers.