Selection of Germline Genetic Testing Panels in Patients with Cancer Guideline

Ms. Charité Ricker, MS, CGC and Dr. Nadine Tung, MD, FASCO share updates from the new ASCO guideline on selection of germline genetic testing panels in patients with cancer. They discuss highlights on family history collection, when and how multigene panel germline genetic testing should be used, which genes are generally recommended for testing, and how germline genetic testing interfaces with somatic genetic testing. Ms. Ricker and Dr. Tung also note the importance of the guideline and the impact of these new recommendations on clinicians and patients with cancer. Read the full guideline, “Selection of Germline Genetic Testing Panels in Patients with Cancer: ASCO Guideline” at www.asco.org/molecular-testing-and-biomarkers-guidelines.

TRANSCRIPT

GDL 24E13

This guideline, clinical tools, and resources are available at www.asco.org/molecular-testing-and-biomarkers-guidelines. Read the full text of the guideline and review authors’ disclosures of potential conflicts of interest in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, https://ascopubs.org/doi/10.1200/JCO.24.00662 

Brittany Harvey: Hello and welcome to the ASCO Guidelines Podcast, one of ASCO’s podcasts delivering timely information to keep you up to date on the latest changes, challenges and advances in oncology. You can find all the shows, including this one at asco.org/podcasts

My name is Brittany Harvey, and today I'm interviewing Dr. Nadine Tung, a medical oncologist from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, and Ms. Charité Ricker, a cancer genetic counselor with the Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Southern California and Los Angeles General Medical Center, co-chairs on, “Selection of Germline Genetic Testing Panels in Patients with Cancer: ASCO Guideline.”

Thank you for being here, Ms. Ricker and Dr. Tung.

Dr. Nadine Tung: Pleasure. 

Ms. Charité Ricker: Thank you.

Brittany Harvey: Then, before we discuss this guideline, I'd like to note that ASCO takes great care in the development of its guidelines and ensuring that the ASCO conflict of interest policy is followed for each guideline. The disclosures of potential conflicts of interest for the guideline panel, including Dr. Tung and Ms. Ricker, who have joined us here today, are available online with the publication of the guideline in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, which is linked in the show notes.  

So then, to start us off first, Dr. Tung, could you provide us a broad overview of both the purpose and scope of this guideline?

Dr. Nadine Tung: Sure. A main impetus for creating the guideline is that oncologists are increasingly being tasked with ordering genetic testing for hereditary cancer risk for their cancer patients. More and more now, they may find themselves sending the test and then seeking guidance from genetic experts to interpret the result. And these panels range from focused tests with just a few genes to comprehensive ones that include over 100 genes. So it can be very overwhelming for an oncologist to be able to understand ordering these tests and explaining them to their patients. So, we believe that it was important to offer some guidance and direction on the use of these multigene panels.

Brittany Harvey: Thank you for setting the stage for this guideline and the recommendations that come from it.  

So then, Ms. Ricker, this guideline addresses four overarching clinical questions. I'd like to review the recommendations based on each