If you’ve recently been diagnosed with advanced high grade ovarian, fallopian tube or primary peritoneal cancer (stage 3 or 4), alongside testing for gene variants you should be offered testing for homologous recombination deficiency (HRD).
This is now available in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Speak to your oncologist to see if this is an option for you.
Watch our Ask the Experts session about HRD and genetics, led by Dr Alexandra Murray, Consultant Clinical Geneticist and Clinical Director at the University Hospital of Wales.
What is homologous recombination deficiency (HRD)?
Our DNA (a molecule in our cells that contains our genetic code and tells the cells how to work and behave) is constantly being damaged and repairing itself. This repair process is called homologous recombination. When our body is unable to repair breaks in DNA this is called homologous recombination deficiency (HRD). It means that, in those with a diagnosis of ovarian cancer and whose tumour tests positive for HRD, cancer cells have a harder time repairing themselves.
Until recently it was thought that HRD was caused mostly by BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene variants. It's now understood that HRD can include a number of genes. It's been found that around half of women with advanced high grade serous ovarian cancer have HRD.
