New DNA Analysis to Assess Breast Cancer Risk

A comparative study of familial breast cancer has demonstrated that denaturing high performance liquid chromotography (DHPLC) is as accurate as DNA sequencing but much faster and far less expensive for assessing breast cancer risk. Inherited forms of breast cancer are among a myriad of genetic diseases for which understanding inherited risk may influence the quality of life and survivability of affected individuals. Among these diseases are muscular dystrophy, familial colon cancer, familial hypertension and cystic fibrosis.

The DHPLC method was developed jointly by researchers at the University of Innsbruck (Austria), Stanford University (Palo Alto, CA, USA), and Transgenomic, Inc. (San Jose, CA, USA). The method is being marketed as the Wave System by Transgenomic. It detects DNA-containing mutations based on the highly specific way in which strands of the double helix join together. A DNA double helix containing a mutation has a very distinct signature when analyzed by DHPLC.

"I see women in the clinic every day whose mothers and sisters have died from breast cancer,” said Prof. Teresa Wagner, head of the group for hereditary breast and ovarian cancer at the University of Vienna (Austria). "My job is to help them understand their risk of developing breast cancer and to counsel them on their prevention possibilities. The Wave System is an important tool in evaluating their genetic predisposition.”