Fergus Couch, Ph.D.

Pancreatic cancer is one of the most difficult forms of cancer to diagnose and treat. For many patients, the disease is not treatable through surgery and standard chemotherapy. New research published in JAMA, supported in part through the Mayo Clinic Center for Individualized Medicine,  gives insight into the underlying genetic links to pancreatic cancer.  Senior authors Fergus Couch, Ph.D., and Gloria Petersen, Ph.D. share their discovery of six genes with mutations that substantially increase a person’s risk for pancreatic cancer.

Gloria Petersen, Ph.D.

The discovery is important for many reasons. First it reveals that genetic testing can identify whether additional family members are at an increased risk for pancreatic and other cancers.  Second, it found that even patients without a family history of pancreatic cancer may have these genetic mutations.  As a result, they are calling for new, expanded genetic testing guidelines.

Read more here.

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Tags: #Dr. Fergus Couch, cancer genomics, Cancer Research, DNA Testing, Dr. Gloria Petersen, JAMA study, Mayo Clinic Cancer Center, Mayo Clinic Center for Individualize Medicine, Mayo Clinic Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, Pancreatic Cancer, Precision Medicine