Biomedic cooperates whit Ho Chi Minh oncology hospital to organize scientific workshop “BRCA mutations in the era of precision medicine”

Ho Chi Minh City, July 16, 2022, Ho Chi Minh Oncology Hospital held a scientific conference with the theme “BRCA gene mutations in the era of precision medicine”. The event attracted more than 100 guests who are Vietnam’s leading doctors, medical experts in the field of molecular biology, oncology to participate directly and monitor online. The program is accompanied and sponsored by Biomedic Science Medical Joint Stock Company and AstraZeneca Vietnam Co., Ltd.

BRCA genes (BRCA 1/ BRCA 2) are tumor suppressor genes, which help protect the body from uncontrolled growth of cells, which leads to the appearance of cancerous tumors. Most people are born with the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes. However, if the BRCA gene is mutated, it will lead to an increased risk of cancer, in which the most common are breast cancer, ovarian cancer, prostate cancer and pancreatic cancer. For example, carrying a BRCA gene mutation increases the risk of breast cancer from 12.5% ​​to 90%, from 12% to 25% the risk of prostate cancer and from 2% to 60%. ovary. Among more than 20 hereditary cancers, breast cancer, ovarian cancer, and prostate cancer caused by mutations in the BRCA gene are among the most heritable cancers. Specifically, there is a 50% chance that a child born into a family with a history of carrying the gene may inherit the BRCA gene mutation, whether they are a boy or a girl. In Vietnam, there have been many tests to detect BRCA gene mutations using different technologies, but the BRCA gene mutation test meets IVD (In Vitro Diagnostic) standards are not popular.

From that context, Ho Chi Minh Oncology Hospital, with the sponsorship of Biomedic Science Material Joint Stock Company and AstraZeneca Vietnam Co., Ltd., decided to organize the scientific conference “BRCA gene mutations in the era of precision medicine”, with the aim is to update the latest information on BRCA gene mutation testing in the diagnosis and targeted treatment of breast, ovarian, prostate cancers – from a clinical perspective, as well as to report the results of diagnostic practice of accurate diagnosis with BRCA gene mutation test meeting clinical IVD standard at Ho Chi Minh Oncology Hospital.

Ho Chi Minh Oncology Hospital is the first unit in the country to complete the IVD standard BRCA gene mutation test using the NGS technology. The whole process is operated on the MiSeqDx machine system, which is FDA-approved and CE-IVD certified by Illumina – the world’s leading technology company in next-generation gene sequencing. Testing multiple genes at the same time with NGS technology allows doctors to detect abnormalities in the entire human genome, thereby diagnosing and monitoring diseases as well as providing prognosis and predicting drug treatment response to patients. with cancer patients. This announcement has officially brought gene mutation testing applications based on Illumina’s NGS technology closer to the Vietnamese medicine and doctors in the era of precision medicine; contributes to affirming the great value and significance of standard BRCA gene mutation test IVD in early diagnosis and accurate treatment of BRCA gene-related cancers, especially diseases with strong genetic factors.