Advantages and Some Remaining Challenges in Hereditary Gastrointestinal Cancer Panel Testing

Colorectal cancer affects 1 in 20 men and women in their lifetime. About 30% of these cases have been shown to be familial while only about 5% are associated with a highly penetrant hereditary colon cancer syndrome. In many familial cases, however, no mutation in the commonly implicated CRC genes is found. With the development of next-generation sequencing, testing laboratories are now able to offer hereditary gastrointestinal panel testing, which allows for the simultaneous sequencing of a much broader set of genes associated with CRC. We discuss the advantages and disadvantages of such testing to inform best clinical practice.