Universal Germline Genetic Testing after a Diagnosis of Cancer.

Universal germline genetic testing detects 72% more pathogenic variants than age-based criteria in 39,184 cancer patients across 32 tumor types.

• Why it matters: Current age thresholds often overlook hereditary risk, risking missed diagnoses that could influence treatment and familial screening, especially among late-onset cases.
• What they did: The study sequenced over 39,000 unselected cancer patients, analyzing more than 90 predisposition genes and stratifying them into early-, average-, and late-onset groups based on tumor-specific ages.
• The result: Broad-based testing identified significantly more pathogenic variants, including among late-onset cases, supporting universal germline testing for all cancer patients to improve hereditary risk detection.