2008 Woodie Awards
Breast Cancer Findings
Robert Hoffman
Issue date: 11/13/06 Section: Life & Times
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Recent medical findings published during October could not have come at a more meaningful time. The month of October, recognized annually as National Breast Cancer Awareness month beginning with President Clinton in 1994, saw the publication of a number of different research studies focusing on the causes and possibly preventions of breast cancer.
Breast cancer is the most widespread type of cancer in women, affecting up to one out of nine women, and it is the second most fatal cancer in women after lung cancer. Men are susceptible to breast cancer; however, it is extremely rare and accounts for less than one percent of the cases annually. The number of diagnoses of the disease in the Western world has increased dramatically since the early 1970s. There is strong evidence to suggest that breast cancer is, to some extent, hereditary, and scientists are still working to uncover the exact genetic mechanisms by which it is passed down from parent to child.
The list of possible causes of breast cancer is exceptionally large. In large clinical studies, age, weight gained after menopause, alcohol consumption, exposure to artificial light, unusually high levels of estrogen in the blood stream, and even farm work have been shown to have a positive correlation with a woman's chances of developing breast cancer. Equally troubling is the recent research suggesting that breast cancer is strongly linked to certain genes, and that the disease can be passed along hereditary lines. British scientists reported October 9 that they have spotted a new breast cancer susceptibility gene that might someday help women ascertain their risk for the disease. Women with mutations in the gene, called BRIP1, have twice the normal risk of breast cancer.
Still, BRIP1 probably plays only a minor role in breast cancer risk generally, the researchers added, since the mutation itself is uncommon. The increase in risk associated with this gene is small in relation to the risk associated with mutations in other breast cancer genes, such as the better-known BRCA1 and BRCA2. While mutations in BRIP1 doubles the risk of breast cancer, mutations in either BRCA1 or BRCA2 can increase the risk of the disease ten to twenty fold. To date, known mutations in genes are responsible for an estimated twenty-five percent of all familial breast cancer cases.
Breast cancer is the most widespread type of cancer in women, affecting up to one out of nine women, and it is the second most fatal cancer in women after lung cancer. Men are susceptible to breast cancer; however, it is extremely rare and accounts for less than one percent of the cases annually. The number of diagnoses of the disease in the Western world has increased dramatically since the early 1970s. There is strong evidence to suggest that breast cancer is, to some extent, hereditary, and scientists are still working to uncover the exact genetic mechanisms by which it is passed down from parent to child.
The list of possible causes of breast cancer is exceptionally large. In large clinical studies, age, weight gained after menopause, alcohol consumption, exposure to artificial light, unusually high levels of estrogen in the blood stream, and even farm work have been shown to have a positive correlation with a woman's chances of developing breast cancer. Equally troubling is the recent research suggesting that breast cancer is strongly linked to certain genes, and that the disease can be passed along hereditary lines. British scientists reported October 9 that they have spotted a new breast cancer susceptibility gene that might someday help women ascertain their risk for the disease. Women with mutations in the gene, called BRIP1, have twice the normal risk of breast cancer.
Still, BRIP1 probably plays only a minor role in breast cancer risk generally, the researchers added, since the mutation itself is uncommon. The increase in risk associated with this gene is small in relation to the risk associated with mutations in other breast cancer genes, such as the better-known BRCA1 and BRCA2. While mutations in BRIP1 doubles the risk of breast cancer, mutations in either BRCA1 or BRCA2 can increase the risk of the disease ten to twenty fold. To date, known mutations in genes are responsible for an estimated twenty-five percent of all familial breast cancer cases.
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