Implementing universal cancer screening programs can help sustain genomic medicine programs.

Abstract

As technology improves and prices of genetic sequencing continue to decrease, questions arise as to whether implementing universal cancer genetic screening programs to identify those at higher risk for hereditary cancer conditions and offer them genetic sequencing will become obsolete as part of genomic medicine programs in favor of population testing for hereditary cancer risk through genetic sequencing of everyone (population genomic screening). In this commentary, we discuss how implementing evidence-based universal cancer screening programs, such as universal Lynch syndrome screening and other programs, can sustain current genomic medicine programs and pave the way for future genomic screening programs, and that they must remain an integral and necessary part of the evolving landscape of genomic medicine.