Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Advances in next-generation sequencing facilitate the simultaneous evaluation of large numbers of cancer predisposition genes (CPGs) in patients with cancer irrespective of family history or tumour phenotype. Several studies have reported the frequent occurrence of germline mutations in CPGs in patients with discordant cancer types raising the possibility of novel gene-cancer associations. The current study aimed to evaluate the significance of germline mutations i...

Background: Establishing a genetic diagnosis in patients presenting with potential monogenic endocrine disorders can provide benefits for the individual and wider family. Next-generation sequencing (NGS) gene panels provide a time- and cost-efficient platform for testing. A Scottish NGS endocrine testing platform, comprising 30 genes (11 individual panels), was established in 2018. A national genomic test-directory provides eligibility criteria for testing, bu...

Background: Identifying individuals harbouring germline mutations in hereditary cancer genes provides opportunities for tumour surveillance programs, disease-specific treatment and cascade testing in family members but is reliant on accurate variant interpretation, which may be confounded by imprecise methods for ascribing pathogenicity. Where insufficient evidence supports a definitive classification, ‘variant of uncertain significance’ (VUS) status is applied, whic...