In order to be able to better find out patient hereditary risks of breast and ovarian cancer, Quest Diagnostics Inc is working along with France's national health agency. They will come up with an expandable database for BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene mutations.

The project is named as BRCA Share. Other medical testing companies and public laboratories can also take part in the project for which Quest, the world's largest provider of diagnostic testing services, will charge an annual fee for having an access to the curated database.

Laboratory Corporation of America wants to take part in the project. Diagnostic laboratories do not always share genetic information collected from DNA testing. Therefore, it becomes difficult to evaluate gene mutations making it uncertain for patients about their cancer risk and preventative care.

Through 16 labs, the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research gather the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genetic testing information. All the labs have a database, said officials of the project. Charles Strom, Quest's vice- president for genetics and genomics, said that other databases are meant to be shared for genetic information.

But the problem comes when there are differences in terminology, format and duplication can make things difficult to be used. Charles said if they would have a broader pool then they would be able to carry out research studies as well.

While talking about fees to access the database will be from tens of thousands of dollars to thousands of dollars depending on laboratories. Charles expects that labs around the world will join the initiative. If there would be a wide database and more follow-up studies then there is a possibility that more variants can be identified that might be harmless, but put a patient at risk for cancer.