Cancer genes can be grouped into two classes: class I genes are mutated or deleted; whereas class II genes are not altered at the DNA level, rather their expressions at RNA level are affected, and the effects are reflected at the phenotype. Conventionally, in the study of diseases like cancer, only mutated (class I) genes have been considered as candidate cancer genes, cancer genes of class II have been neglected by cancer geneticists. Until now, the focus has been on class I genes and the screening methods have been largely limited to searches for alterations in DNA.

But cancer phenotypes result from altered RNA expression (class II), and there is no simple 1:1 relationship between mutated genes and cancer phenotypes. Therefore, it’s not enough to know whether a gene is mutated or normal – it’s also important to know whether the gene is expressed and how it is expressed.

DNA test and RNA test serve to provide different genetic data. The genetic data acquired from a DNA test is static, but an RNA test provides dynamic data. Repeated tests in DNA do not provide different results, but in RNA, it does. This is because DNA doesn’t change with external factors, but RNA expression changes with lifestyle and environmental factors. Hence, a DNA test measures the lifetime risk of diseases, but an RNA test measures those risks for the present. By utilising the molecular barcoding technology, MyGenome is able to investigate 770 gene expressions that combine vital components involved in the complex interplay between the tumour, microenvironment and immune response in cancer. Both over-expressed and under-expressed genes can be identified in a single test, making it possible to recognise genes whose expression changes during development, carcinogenesis, or any other processes under investigation.