Myriad’s Polygenic Risk Score Personalizes Risk of Breast Cancer for Woman with a Genetic Mutation in Important Breast Cancer Genes

New Clinical Validation Study Presented at 2019 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium

SALT LAKE CITY, Dec. 14, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Myriad Genetics, Inc. (NASDAQ: MYGN), a leader in molecular diagnostics and precision medicine, announced that results of a new validation study of the company’s polygenic risk score (PRS) for breast cancer were presented at the 2019 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS) in San Antonio, Tx.  The key finding is that the PRS significantly improves the precision and accuracy of breast cancer risk estimates for women of European ancestry who have pathogenic variants (PV) in high- and moderate-penetrance breast cancer genes.

PRS Significantly Modifies Lifetime Breast Cancer Risk in Mutation Carriers

“Our goal is to help women understand their risk of breast cancer so that they can take steps to live longer, healthier lives.  Women who have a family history of breast cancer should consider hereditary cancer testing with the myRisk Hereditary Cancer test,” said Jerry Lanchbury, Ph.D., chief scientific officer of Myriad Genetics.  “In this landmark study, we demonstrated that for women who test positive for a mutation in one of the five most common breast cancer genes, there are additional genetic factors called single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that can further influence their lifetime risk of breast cancer.” 

A summary of the study follows below.  Follow Myriad on Twitter via @myriadgenetics and keep up to date with SABCS meeting news and updates by using the #SACBS19 hashtag. 

Myriad Poster Presentation Title:  Polygenic Breast Cancer Risk Modification in Carriers of High and Intermediate Risk Gene Mutations.Presenter:  Elisha Hughes, Ph.D.Date:  Saturday, Dec. 14, 2019, 7:00–9:00 a.m. Location:  Poster P6-08-07

This validation study evaluated the 86-SNP PRS as a breast cancer risk factor for women who carry PV in the BRCA1, BRCA2, CHEK2, ATM and PALB2 genes and for PV-free women.  The analysis included data from 152,012 women of European ancestry who received a myRisk® Hereditary Cancer test as part of their clinical hereditary cancer risk assessment.  The results demonstrated that the 86-SNP PRS significantly modified the breast cancer risk for women with pathogenic mutations in the five tested breast cancer genes (p-value