Hereditary cancer panel & germline results negative: Is this good?

Posted by darrenh05 @darrenh05, Feb 5 2:02pm

I received my diagnostics and both hereditary panel and Germline testing came back completely negative. I am assuming this is all GREAT news, but I am not entirely sure. I'm trying to get some perspective on this and how significant it is. I know its great that my son will not have any pCA gene's passed on, but I am more curious about the how current drugs/treatments will be influenced by this negative result. Will I have a better shot at long-term control/deep remission?

How important is this for long term control and the rest of the battle for me? Please share your thoughts and personal experience on this.

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jeff Marchi | @jeffmarc | Feb 5 3:26pm

Well, there are some drugs if you Have BRCA1 or BRCA2 There isn’t much in the way of drugs designed for other genetic issues. In some cases, the PARP Inhibitor for BRCA may work for other genetic issues, but Trials have shown it doesn’t work well for most.

You’re much better off not having genetic issues. They can cause your cancer to be worse and keep coming back.

If you have Pluvicto You should get a somatic genetic test. In some cases, the genes in your cancer can be different than your hereditary genes. If that’s true, there may be other treatments. I know people that have had BRCA in their somatic test, but not their hereditary test.

brianjarvis | @brianjarvis | Feb 5 6:55pm

Yes, this is great news that your son will not have any pCA gene's passed on from you. However, you might want to have your wife also take a genetic test, just to make sure she isn’t passing on any PCa/breast cancer genes to any of your and her offspring (boys or girls).

Looks like you’ll be treated with standard of care just like the rest of us (mere mortals) who didn’t inherit any prostate cancer-related gene mutations.

heavyphil | @heavyphil | Feb 6 6:12am

That’s certainly positive news; what does your doc at Sloan recommend at this point?
One would think that having PCa at such a young age (I think you are under 50?) would portend some kind of aberration, right? Like, how can this be ‘just run of the mill’ prostate cancer at such a young age?
I believe you had IMRT to the fossa but not the pelvic nodes…are they going to try to radiate those? Can they?
Phil

darrenh05 | @darrenh05 | Feb 6 1:48pm

In reply to @brianjarvis "Yes, this is great news that your son will not have any pCA gene's passed on..." + (show)

@brianjarvis Good call, Brian. We'll look into that.

darrenh05 | @darrenh05 | Feb 6 3:06pm

In reply to @heavyphil "That’s certainly positive news; what does your doc at Sloan recommend at this point? One would..." + (show)

@heavyphil Hi Phil, Drs at MSK are watching closely and I feel very comfortable with the plan/care so far. With stable PSA right now, there is nothing to do but wait and see.
Yes, I was diagnosed at 43. Crazy - no history of pCA in my family, so yes its been an aberration indeed.