New genetic test effectively screens for cancer

ISLAMABAD-A single test can identify the multitude of known sources of genetic variation underlying mismatch repair deficiency syndrome in inherited colon, endometrial, and other cancers, researchers report in The Journal of Molecular Diagnostics.Researchers have developed a new integrated genetic/epigenetic DNA-sequencing protocol known as MultiMMR that can identify the presence and cause of mismatch repair (MMR) deficiency in a single test from a small sample of DNA in colon, endometrial and other cancers. This alternative to complex, multi-step testing workflows can also determine causes of MMR deficiency often missed by current clinical tests. Their results are presented in The Journal of Molecular Diagnostics, published by Elsevier.MMR genes monitor and repair errors that can occur in normal cell replication and recombination. In some inherited and acquired cancers, one or more of the MMR genes are deactivated.