Germline mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2 are relatively common in women with ovarian, fallopian tube, and peritoneal carcinoma (OC) causing a greatly increased lifetime risk of these cancers, but the frequency and relevance of inherited mutations in other genes is less well characterized. This study set out to determine the frequency and importance of germline…
Precision Medicine Meets Public Health: Population Screening for BRCA1 and BRCA2
Mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2 were first discovered in the mid-1990s in families with multiple cases of breast and ovarian cancer and remain the major cause of inherited susceptibility to these malignancies. At first, testing for mutations in these genes was limited to women with cancer diagnosis at a young age or with a substantial…
BRCA Mutation Testing Increasing in Younger Women
The proportion of women diagnosed with breast cancer at 40 years of age or younger who undergo BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation testing is increasing, according to a new study. In fact, the proportion went from 77% in 2006 to 95% in 2013, Shoshana M. Rosenberg, ScD, MPH, from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, and…
