Hi there, I've just seen that Ovarian Cancer Canada is hosting a briefing on HRD testing on Feb 12 at 6:30 EST if any one is interested in learning more about this. Here's the link- Cancer Support Events | Ovarian Cancer Canada
HRD (Homologous Recombination Deficiency) testing for ovarian cancer analyzes a tumor sample to find genetic defects, revealing if the cancer can effectively repair DNA, which helps guide treatment, especially for predicting response to PARP inhibitor drugs, with guidelines recommending it for high-grade serous ovarian cancer to identify patients who benefit most from targeted therapies like PARP inhibitors.
- It's a biomarker test looking for issues in the DNA repair process (Homologous Recombination Repair - HRR).
It identifies genetic signatures like loss of heterozygosity (LOH), telomeric imbalance (TAI), and large-scale transitions (LST) in tumor cells, indicating genomic instability.
It also checks for mutations in causal genes like BRCA1 and BRCA2.
Treatment Guidance: Identifies patients who are more likely to respond to PARP inhibitors, a targeted therapy.
Prognostic Value: Provides insight into the disease's likely course.
Comprehensive: Catches HRD even if BRCA genes aren't mutated, as many other genes affect this pathway.
A tissue sample (from surgery or biopsy) is sent to a lab.
The lab examines the tumor for genetic changes and genomic scars.
A positive result means the tumor has HRD, often indicating better response to PARP inhibitors after platinum chemotherapy.
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