CHIP Testing Crucial for Disease Risk

Medical professionals are increasingly recognizing the significance of Clonal Hematopoiesis of Indeterminate Potential (CHIP) testing for assessing disease risk, particularly for cardiovascular conditions and cancer. This follows an American Heart Association scientific statement in February 2026, highlighting CHIP as a potential driver of cardiovascular disease. CHIP, defined by acquired somatic mutations in blood stem cells with a variant allele frequency (VAF) of 2% or greater, increases with age, affecting 2% of individuals aged 50-69 and over 39% of those aged 90 and above.

The presence of CHIP is associated with a hazard ratio of 1.8 for cardiovascular disease, surpassing traditional risk factors like smoking, hypertension, and high cholesterol (all at 1.4). Recent research indicates CHIP's involvement in various conditions, including improved response to checkpoint therapy for non-small cell lung cancer and colorectal cancer in TET2 mutations, and accelerated aortic aneurysm growth. The most common CHIP mutations are DNMT3A (48%), TET2 (22%), and ASXL1 (11%).

Despite its established clinical relevance, CHIP testing is not routinely incorporated into standard medical guidelines. This omission mirrors a previous delay in integrating lipoprotein(a) and Apolipoprotein B into cardiology guidelines, which took eight years. The current lack of widespread CHIP testing means many individuals at high risk for serious conditions remain unidentified.