RIYADH - The King Faisal Specialist Hospital and the Research Center in Riyadh has recorded a new scientific achievement in the field of cancer research, the first of its kind in the region.

A genetic package containing 41 genes called Hereditary Onco-genesis Predisposition Evaluation (HOPE) can identify patients with family cancer or those who have a genetic predisposition to cancer, by examining a small sample of the patient's blood, the Saudi Press Agency reported. Dr. Khaulah Al-Kairaie said that the HOPE test was applied to 1,300 Saudi patients suffering from the most common cancer diseases, in the Kingdom (146 patients with thyroid cancer, 698 breast cancer, 117 women with ovarian cancer, 352 colorectal patients), adding that the results of this research were published in the Journal Human Genetics.

The design patent was registered in the European Patent Office (PCT / EP2017 / 070242) and was generally adopted as a requirement for admission of patients in this study. HOPE was able to use a small sample of the patient's blood less than 1 milliliter to identify the family genetic causes of 22% of ovarian cancer, 18% for breast and colon cancer, 2.5% for glandular cancer Thyroid for patients under the age of 40 years, she stated.

Pointing out that the reasons for this study, Al-Kairaie said that it was due to absence of programs or clinics specialized in the genetic cancers in the Kingdom, and the absence of a scientific study on a large segment of patients to identify the proportion of genetic cancer or the extent of the spread of genetic cancer, in Saudi patients, indicating that this study is of great importance in the planning of comprehensive national programs for the prevention of cancer genetics in the Kingdom.

The study is the most comprehensive of its kind on Saudi cancer patients, and proves superiority of genetic testing, which has become easier and accessible to all advanced medical centers to distinguish it from the traditional ways of identifying patients, who have the susceptibility to genetic cancer based on the family history of cancer, which may not be known or available to doctors, she asserted.

Preventive programs for genetic cancers have contributed significantly to reducing the incidence of cancer in developed countries in the last decade, which is known as the small average family members, so the effectiveness of national prevention programs of genetic cancer will have a more effective role and influence, in Saudi society, through the genetic examination of the Hope Pack, she concluded. -- Al Arabiya English