\n
![\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/attachment.aspx.jpeg\")
\n
\n More than 10,000 people have participated in DNA Screen via saliva samples.
\n <\/p>\n
\n News<\/p>\n
\n Researchers are campaigning for all-population DNA screening, and an RACGP expert agrees that GPs need to be involved for it to succeed.
\n <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n More than 10,000 people have participated in DNA Screen via saliva samples.
\n
<\/p>\n
The DNA Screen genetic test detects certain DNA changes that cause a high genetic risk of:
\n<\/p>\n
Open to people aged 18\u201340 years, the study not only attracted registrants from all over Australia, but from a diverse range of backgrounds, with more than 40% from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, and from \u2018all kinds of postcodes and socio-economic groups\u2019, says Professor Lacaze.
newsGP weekly poll
\n An RACGP expert has called on GPs to \u2018keep on top of the very rapidly changing\u2019 field of DNA testing, as one Melbourne-based screening program recently showcased findings and sought further funding to expand its scope.
\n\u00a0
\nAt an event at Parliament House last week, program members from Monash University\u2019s DNA Screen<\/a> shared results of their pilot program of 10,000 participants, as they campaigned for further federal funding for a five-year implementation trial.
\n\u00a0
\nThe ultimate aim is for Australia to become the first country<\/a>\u00a0to offer preventive DNA screening through a public health system, said Professor Paul Lacaze, DNA Screen lead and Head of Public Health Genomics at Monash University.
\n\u00a0
\n\u2018This is about prevention,\u2019 he said.
\n\u00a0
\n\u2018If we can identify people early, before disease develops, we can intervene, save lives, and reduce future healthcare costs.\u2019
\n\u00a0
\nRACGP Expert Committee \u2013 Quality Care Chair Professor Mark Morgan, said GPs will be integral to an all-population DNA screening program.
\n\u00a0
\n\u2018The arguments are mounting for whole-of-population DNA testing,\u2019 he told newsGP.
\n\u00a0
\n\u2018It will come down to conversations between well informed GPs and their patients.
\n\u00a0
\n\u2018We know that discussions with GPs make a huge difference to screening uptake. GPs will be central.\u2019
\n\u00a0
\nDNA Screen, funded through the Australian Government\u2019s Medical Research Future Fund, was launched<\/a> in 2022.
\n\u00a0
\nResearchers from Monash University opened recruitment for 10,000 participants to take part in a pilot DNA screening study, to test for variants that might indicate a higher risk of certain diseases.
\n\u00a0
\nThe response was beyond the study team\u2019s wildest expectations, said Professor Lacaze.
\n\u00a0
\n\u2018We actually had 10,000 people sign up on the first day that recruitment was open,\u2019 he told newsGP.
\n\u00a0
\n\u2018Now, over 30,000 people have registered to participate, and we\u2019ve had to essentially put 20,000 people on a waiting list because we only had funding for 10,000 spots.\u2019<\/p>\n
\n\thereditary breast and ovarian cancer \u2013\u00a0including the BRCA1\/2 genes
\n\tLynch syndrome\u00a0\u2013 high risk of colorectal cancer in both men and women, and endometrial cancer and ovarian cancer in women
\n\tfamilial hypercholesterolaemia\u00a0\u2013 increased risk of heart disease or stroke due to high cholesterol from an early age.
<\/p>\n
\n\u00a0
\n\u2018We were very pleasantly surprised and really thrilled with the public response that we\u2019ve got,\u2019 he said. \u2018Across all segments of society in that young adult age range.\u2019
\n\u00a0
\nOnce deemed eligible, DNA Screen participants were posted a test kit for home-collection saliva sample.
\n\u00a0
\nOf those screened so far, one in 50 have been found to have a high genetic risk of cancer or heart disease, and are now in follow-up care and management.
\n\u00a0
\nProfessor Morgan said it would be practical for GPs to offer DNA saliva tests through clinical consultations.
\n\u00a0
\n\u2018I would think that would be very straightforward, and far better to bring that into the fold with general practice than to have those kits provided outside of general practice \u2026 where that opportunity for pre- and post-consideration is lost,\u2019 he said.
\n\u00a0
\nHowever, Professor Morgan said GPs would need to be funded for longer consultations.
\n\u00a0
\n\u2018It will be aided by two significant changes in the way that Medicare rebates work. These consults take longer than somebody presenting with a single condition for diagnosis and management, so we need to support longer consults,\u2019 he said.
\n\u00a0
\n\u2018And secondly, preventive healthcare is not as planned and proactive and team-based across the lifespan as it should be.
\n\u00a0
\n\u2018I\u2019ve long argued for health assessment item numbers, the range of people who are eligible for those, to be expanded.\u2019
\n\u00a0
\nProfessor Lacaze said for the program to expand to population screening and prevention, it \u2018might make more sense\u2019 for a person detected with a variant to be referred to their GP to discuss and develop a risk management plan.
\n\u00a0
\n\u2018Some people are saying this is what we have to do now, and it\u2019s the only way this is going to scale, that this is the role of GPs, primary prevention, and that\u2019s what we should be building,\u2019 he said.
\n\u00a0
\nAdditionally, GPs need to \u2018keep on top of the very rapidly changing availability of testing and functionality of testing\u2019, according to Professor Morgan.
\n\u00a0
\n\u2018It\u2019s going to become a mainstream part of medicine, increasingly, so there is a need to keep up to date,\u2019 he said.
\n\u00a0
\n\u2018We also need to know how to talk to people about results from testing, because some people are getting private tests done, and also to counsel people about the pros and the significant cons of having private testing done.\u2019
\n\u00a0
\nProfessor Morgan said the United Kingdom is already \u2018building infrastructure for national testing as we speak\u2019, ahead of the introduction of whole-population genome sequencing for every newborn baby in England by 2030<\/a> under the NHS.
\n\u00a0
\nHe said that, similarly, infrastructure would be needed to support whole-of-population testing in Australia, ranging from secure storage facilities for test results and an increase in genetic counsellors, through to legislation to prevent insurance companies from accessing genetic testing.
\n\u00a0
\n\u2018There\u2019s a need for insurance companies to be firmly put in a place where they\u2019re not allowed now, or in the future, to introduce loadings based on genetic testing,\u2019 he said.
\n\u00a0
\n\u2018Otherwise, that will act as a barrier to people having genetic testing because of insurance concerns.\u2019
\n\u00a0
\nThe age range of the DNA Screen participants is \u2018exactly the age range\u2019 that has limited contact with general practice, Professor Morgan said.
\n\u00a0
\n\u2018Many people in that age range don\u2019t have multiple long-term medical conditions that would result in them seeing GPs regularly,\u2019 he said.
\n\u00a0
\n\u2018So, a Medicare-funded health assessment eligibility throughout adulthood would be extremely helpful in setting up systems, including recall systems, to proactively look after your patients rather than waiting for them to come, because that\u2019s an age range where people are busy and really only see their GP when they\u2019ve got an acute need to.\u2019
\n\u00a0
\nLog in below to join the conversation.<\/p>\n
\n cancer<\/a> DNA<\/a> DNA Screen<\/a> familial cancer<\/a> genetic screening<\/a> genetic testing<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n
\n Have you noticed an increase in patients affected by social isolation in the past two years?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
News
Researchers are campaigning for all-population DNA screening, and an RACGP expert agrees that GPs need…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":141216,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[200,79],"class_list":["post-141215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-genetics","tag-genetics","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141215","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=141215"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141215\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/141216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=141215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=141215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=141215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}