By: Mark Gaige, Harvard Medical School From: medicalxpress.com People inherit two copies of each gene—one from each parent—an evolutionary fail-safe to ensure survival even when one of them doesn’t function. For cancer-suppressor genes like BRCA1, researchers have long hypothesized that a single healthy copy could still guard against tumor development. Yet women with one harmful BRCA1 mutation are far more …
Hormonal Contraception Linked to Increased Breast Cancer Risk in BRCA1 Carriers
By: Charles Bankhead, Senior Editor From: medpagetoday.com Carriers of the BRCA1 cancer gene had a significantly increased risk of breast cancer if they used hormonal contraception (HC), pooled cohort data showed. Breast cancer risk increased by 29% in BRCA1 carriers who reported any use of HC during at least one 12-month continuous period. The risk also increased with duration of …
MRI Surveillance Significantly Reduces Breast Cancer Mortality
By: Melissa Rohman From: northwestern.edu Women with breast cancer who carried the BRCA1 breast cancer mutation and who were enrolled in an MRI surveillance program saw an 80 percent reduction in breast cancer mortality compared to women who did not, according to a recent study published in JAMA Oncology. “Breast MRI can be unpleasant for many women, and the anxiety …
New Hope On The Horizon For Many Women With Breast Cancer
By: William A. Haseltine From: forbes.com There is new hope on the horizon for many women with breast cancer. New drugs have been discovered that could treat 10 to 20 percent of women with breast cancer, especially those who have an inherited predisposition to the disease due to defective BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes. For some time we knew that either …
Changes detected in BRCA1 breast cells before they turn cancerous
From: cancerresearchuk.org A new study funded by Cancer Research UK has mapped out some of the earliest changes that occur in seemingly healthy breast tissue long before any tumours appear, which could have significant implications for the early detection of breast cancer. The paper, published today in Nature Communications(link is external), has discovered that before becoming cancerous, breast cells with the BRCA1 …
Significant New Findings about Breast and Ovarian Cancer in Patients from the Caribbean
By: University of Miami Health System, Miller School of Medicine From: newswise.com Judith Hurley, M.D., an oncologist and researcher at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, has been studying racial disparities in breast cancer rates since 2002. After Dr. Hurley noticed that many of her Bahamian breast cancer patients were unusually young, she …
Study Suggests 86-SNV Be Incorporated in Breast Cancer Risk Predication Models
By: Hannah Slater From: cancernetwork.com Researchers specifically suggested that the 86-SNV score could be incorporated into breast cancer risk prediction models for patients carrying a pathogenic variant in BRCA1, BRCA2, and CHEK2. Stratification of breast cancer risk by an 86-single nucleotide variation (SNV; formerly single-nucleotide polymorphisms) polygenic risk score (PRS) in pathogenic variant carriers of moderate-risk breast cancer genes was …
Novel therapy studied for inherited breast cancer
By: Will Sansom From: uthscsa.edu UT Health San Antonio researchers have discovered a novel way to kill cancers that are caused by an inherited mutation in BRCA1, the type of cancer for which actress Angelina Jolie had preventive double mastectomy and reconstructive surgery in 2013. “This represents a new treatment for inherited breast and ovarian cancer, which are higher in …
Breast Cancer Drug Promising in Phase 3 Trial
By: Steven Reinberg From: consumer.healthday.com For women with advanced breast cancer who carry the BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene mutations, an experimental drug could improve survival, a new study suggests. The BRCA mutations are linked with a greater risk for aggressive breast and ovarian cancer. The drug, talazoparib, works by blocking an enzyme called poly ADP ribose polymerase (PARP), thus preventing …
DANGEROUS BOOBIES: Breaking Up with My Time-Bomb Breasts
Most women in their twenties aren’t focused on their genetic inheritance or risk factors for developing cancer. Standup comedian Caitlin Brodnick certainly wasn’t. Even after she tested positive for the BRCA1 genetic mutation, which meant her risk for developing cancer in her lifetime was 87 percent, she spent two years in denial before she made the life-changing decision to have …
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