BRCA2 Gene News and Research

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BRCA2 is a gene on chromosome 13 that normally helps to suppress cell growth. A person who inherits certain mutations (changes) in a BRCA2 gene has a higher risk of getting breast, ovarian, prostate, and other types of cancer.

Two year wait for breast cancer test results drives women to consider radical surgery

Women in the UK being put under added stress because they are experiencing delays of two years or more for test results to see if they carry a gene associated with an increased likelihood of breast cancer.

20 Jun 2006

New genetic clue discovered about breast cancer

New research has discovered that women in Iceland with a particular gene that raises the risk of breast cancer were virtually certain to develop the disease if they also had a mutation in another gene.

20 Jun 2006

Prophylactic surgery reduces the incidence of ovarian and related cancers

A new multicenter study is the first to suggest that the prophylactic removal of the ovaries and fallopian tubes may provide a different benefit for women who carry a genetic mutation in the BRCA2 gene than for those who have a BRCA1 genetic mutation.

7 Jun 2006

Hormonal treatments reduce risk of cancer returning

Women diagnosed with breast cancer who carry a certain genetic mutation can have breast-sparing surgery but should consider hormonal treatments to reduce their risk of cancer returning.

6 Jun 2006

MRI cost-effective for some women at high-risk of breast cancer

A computer model simulation suggests that adding breast MRI screening may be cost-effective for women of certain ages who carry BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene mutations.

23 May 2006

Extension of embryo screening will help reduce serious illness

A fertility watchdog in Britain, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), has given approval for the extension of embryo screening to cover a wider range of mutated genes, in the main those which raise the risk of cancer in later life.

11 May 2006

New approach to treating breast cancer uses existing chemo drug

British scientists say women who develop breast cancer because of two common genetic mutations could have their treatment transformed by a chemotherapy drug which already exists.

1 May 2006

Remaining 80% of breast cancer genes may soon be discovered

We are closer to finding the missing 80% of breast cancer genes than ever before thanks to the success of the COSMIC database (Catalogue Of Somatic Mutations In Cancer) the 5th European Breast Cancer Conference (EBCC-5) was told today.

23 Mar 2006

Adjuvant hormonal therapy reduces contralateral breast cancer risk

The risk for a new cancer in the unaffected breast substantially increases in women diagnosed with unilateral, hereditary (non-BRCA) breast cancer, according to a new study.

17 Feb 2006

Broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage help repair damaged DNA

Need another reason to eat your vegetables? New research shows that some of them contain chemicals that appear to enhance DNA repair in cells, which could lead to protection against cancer development, say Georgetown University Medical Center researchers.

14 Feb 2006

Non-BRCA1/2 hereditary breast cancer linked to new cancers

The risk for a new cancer in the unaffected breast substantially increases in women diagnosed with unilateral, hereditary (non-BRCA1/2) breast cancer, according to a new study by researchers working at Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden.

14 Feb 2006

BRCA1 gene inhibits estrogen and progesterone

It's been known that the breast cancer susceptibility gene BRCA1 regulates use of estrogen in breast and other cells, but now researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center have discovered that it also controls activity of a second sex steroid hormone, progesterone.

27 Jan 2006

A good year for breast cancer detection and treatment

It was a good year in women’s health, notably breast cancer treatment and detection. The December issue of Mayo Clinic Women’s HealthSource hails these important advances of 2005.

29 Dec 2005

Breast cancer survival rate boosted by radiotherapy

According to a new study breast cancer patients who have radiotherapy after breast-conserving surgery have a lower risk of a recurrence of the disease and a better chance of beating the illness.

19 Dec 2005

Gene mapping project promises new targeted cancer therapies

Government researchers in the United States have this week launched a pilot project to find all the little genetic changes that cause cancer in the hope it will lead to a whole new world of targeted cancer therapy.

14 Dec 2005

Access to genetic counseling and testing are an important part of cancer control

Ten years after the identification of the first breast cancer susceptibility genes so few high-risk minority women have received genetic counseling or testing that the standard methods of calculating risk have not been validated in these groups and the results of genetic testing can still produce surprises.

18 Oct 2005

Data supports use of personal and family history of breast cancer, ovarian cancer, or both in making clinical decisions

African American women at high-risk of breast cancer have genetic mutations that would make genetic testing feasible, according to a study in the October 19 issue of JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association.

18 Oct 2005

Simple, fast and effective method of detecting a large number of patients at high risk for hereditary breast/ovarian cancer

One in five women diagnosed with breast or ovarian cancer who seek mammography have a family history of cancer that suggests they may harbor known cancer-causing gene mutations.

26 Sep 2005

Questionnaire helps identify women who have inherited genetic mutations that increase their risk for breast or ovarian cancer

A simplified way for patients to report and update their family medical histories could help identify women who have inherited genetic mutations that increase their risk for breast or ovarian cancer.

26 Sep 2005

Increased ovarian cancer risk not linked to cancer family history

Women with a strong family history of breast cancer but who don't have breast cancer genetic mutations can now be reassured that they are not at increased risk for ovarian cancer, according to a new study by researchers at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC).

21 Sep 2005