Trend Toward Panels, NGS for Breast Cancer-Associated Testing Seen at San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium Researchers are forging ahead on utilization of markers across the spectrum of breast cancer (BC) care. At the 2014 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS; Texas; Dec. 9-13, 2014), researchers presented work showing: genetic screening should be expanded for women with certain BC subtypes, regardless of family history; multi-gene panels assessing hereditary cancer risk provide incrementally more clinically relevant information than BRCA analysis alone; markers are improving prognosis and identification of women who, even when diagnosed with early-stage disease, are at increased risk of recurrence or metastasis and would benefit from more aggressive treatment; and blood-based DNA markers identified in “liquid biopsies” improve monitoring for early signs of recurrence or progression. Two trends underlying these advances in understanding breast cancer risk assessment and prognosis that will impact future BC-associated testing are the shift to panel-based testing and the employment of next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology. A year and a half after the Supreme Court struck down Myriad’s exclusive patent on the BRCA gene, it is evident that many laboratories are pushing ahead with multi-gene panels to assess hereditary risk of BC, even while researchers continue to […]