BRCA1 Gene News and Research

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BRCA1 is a gene on chromosome 17 that normally helps to suppress cell growth. A person who inherits certain mutations (changes) in a BRCA1 gene has a higher risk of getting breast, ovarian, prostate, and other types of cancer.

BRCA gene mutations influence a women's views of preventive mastectomy

Women whose cells harbor harmful mutations in the BRCA genes are likely to view preventive mastectomy as the best way to reduce their risk and fears of developing breast cancer, despite other, less drastic options available.

10 Mar 2009

Research confirms value of risk-reducing salpingo-oophorectomy for women with BRCA mutations

Prophylactic salpingo-oophorectomy-removal of the ovaries and fallopian tubes--reduces the relative risk of breast cancer by approximately 50 percent and the risk of ovarian and fallopian tube cancer by approximately 80 percent in women who carry a mutation in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene, researchers report in the January 13 online issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

13 Jan 2009

Baby girl due soon will be minus breast cancer causing gene

A baby girl about to be born in Britain will be the first to have been screened for a breast cancer causing gene.

22 Dec 2008

Does hormone treatment predispose patients to breast cancer?

Breast cancer, the leading cause of death among women in France, is the most commonly occurring cancer in women.

21 Nov 2008

Breast cancer common among women with family history but without BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation

New data presented at the American Association for Cancer Research's Seventh Annual International Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research meeting outlines new data, which assesses breast cancer risk among women with a strong family history of breast cancer, but without a BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation.

17 Nov 2008

Breast, ovarian cancer prediction models more accurate for white women than Asian-American women

Two widely used prediction models for identifying a woman's risk for breast and ovarian cancer appear to be less reliable for Asian-American women compared with white women, according to a study in the October issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Reuters Health reports.

29 Sep 2008

Risk of breast cancer mutations underestimated for Asian women, Stanford study shows

Oncologist Allison Kurian, MD, and her colleagues at the Stanford University School of Medicine were perplexed. Computer models designed to identify women who might have dangerous genetic mutations that increase their risk of breast and ovarian cancer worked well for white women. But they seemed to be less reliable for another ethnic group.

11 Sep 2008

Young women's breast cancers more aggressive and less responsive to treatment

Young women's breast cancers tend to be more aggressive and less responsive to treatment than the cancers that arise in older women, and researchers at the Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Duke Institute for Genome Sciences and Policy may have discovered part of the reason why: young women's breast cancers share unique genomic traits that the cancers in older women do not exhibit.

9 Jul 2008

New method to evaluate variations identified in breast cancer susceptibility genes

Using mouse embryonic stem cells, researchers at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health, have developed a new method to evaluate which mutations, or changes, in a gene known to increase breast cancer susceptibility, may lead to cancer. The new test, called a functional assay, is more comprehensive and reliable than most current methods.

7 Jul 2008

Genetic profiling for breast cancer on the horizon

Cancer Research UK scientists have shown that it may soon be possible to offer women a genetic test to assess their risk of breast cancer which could aid early diagnosis for those at high risk of the disease. Their findings are revealed in the New England Journal of Medicine today (Wednesday).

26 Jun 2008

Prostate cancer deaths double in men with BRCA2

Men with prostate cancer caused by a faulty BRCA2 gene are more than twice as likely to die from the disease than those carrying the faulty BRCA1 gene - reveals a study published in the British Journal of Cancer today (Tuesday).

25 Jun 2008

Previously unseen switch regulates breast cancer response to estrogen

A tiny modification called methylation on estrogen receptors prolongs the life of these growth-driving molecules in breast cancer cells, according to research by scientists at Emory University's Winship Cancer Institute.

8 May 2008

Looping genes may hold a key to understanding breast cancer

Another piece of the puzzle that is breast cancer has been found by University of Queensland researchers.

10 Apr 2008

Soy appears to protect against development of breast cancer

Evidence is growing from animal and human studies that genistein, a potent chemical found in soy, protects against development of breast cancer - but only if consumed during puberty, says a Georgetown University Medical Center researcher in the British Journal of Cancer published online today.

10 Apr 2008

MRI's high false positive rate has little impact on women's choice of preventive mastectomy

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) falsely detects breast cancer in five out of every six positive scans according to new research into the use of MRI for women with a high, inherited risk of developing the disease.

26 Mar 2008

Breast cancer gene carriers' risk 'amplified' by additional genes

Many women with a faulty breast cancer gene could be at greater risk of the disease due to extra 'risk amplifying' genes, according to research published in the American Journal of Human Genetics today.

24 Mar 2008

Genetic counselors turn to unconventional counseling to meet demand for genetic testing

Imagine receiving genetic test results for a disease you could develop later in life without having anyone with whom to discuss your options for managing the risk.

18 Mar 2008

Better regulation is urgently needed for genetic tests

Better regulation is urgently needed for genetic tests, particularly those marketed directly to the public, argue researchers in this week's BMJ.

17 Mar 2008

Advanced-stage ovarian cancer patients with BRCA live longer, may respond better to treatment

Two abstracts underscoring the importance of testing for BRCA1/2 mutations in women with ovarian cancer were presented at this week's Society of Gynecologic Oncologists 39th Annual Meeting on Women's Cancers, by researchers from The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.

11 Mar 2008

New drug trial to target hereditary cancers

Cancer Research UK scientists at Newcastle University are starting the first UK trial of a new drug which targets the 'Achilles' heel' in hereditary forms of both breast and ovarian cancer.

28 Feb 2008