Lifestyle Choices

Women with newly diagnosed breast cancer are concerned about any possible risk to their daughters and sisters. If a woman does not appear to be in a family that has breast cancer in approximately half the women on one side, then she probably does not have either the BRCA-1 or BRCA-2 gene. Gene positivity is associated with bilateral breast cancer, ovarian and breast cancer in the same family, and Ashkenazic Jewish ancestry. Women who are gene positive tend to develop breast cancer at a younger age than women with non-hereditary breast cancer. (more…)

Scientists have also discovered the next defective gene to contribute to an increase in breast cancer susceptibility, which they naturally called BRCA-2. The incidence of BRCA-2 appears to be slightly less than BRCA-1. BRCA-2 is autosomal dominant also and resides on the thirteenth chromosome. Initially, it was believed that the presence of the BRCA-2 gene defect did not appear to increase risk for ovarian cancer. (more…)

All cancer is genetic. That is to say, that in order for a normal cell to convert to a cancerous cell, a genetic mishap must occur. These genetic mishaps, or mutations, occur quite frequently and are usually of little consequence unless the event occurs at a critical location on one of the chromosomes. A single mutation does not lead to a cancer. Cancer results from two to three separate events over time. (more…)