However, genetic testing relies on an ever-growing body of research, and a new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association has concluded that laboratories should periodically review patient records in order to accurately assess test results.
Acquired gene or chromosome alteration tests are used to class genetic variants of profiled genes as benign, likely benign, uncertain significance, likely pathogenic, or pathogenic. When researchers reviewed the genetic testing results from 1.45 million patients, they found that almost a quarter of “uncertain significance” variants needed to be reclassified according to recent research—some as benign, and some as pathogenic.
