On my 43rd birthday I was diagnosed with an advanced stage breast cancer. Although my BRCA1 and BRCA2 results were surprisingly negative, I was certain there must be a genetic component to my breast cancer since I was diagnosed at a fairly young age. I remained in contact with my geneticist, Dr. Georgia Wiesner, and …
Permanent link to this article: https://inheritedcancer.net/spotlightnlw2017/
The FDA just approved another PARP inhibitor, rucaparib, for BRCA carriers with ovarian cancer who have already been treated with two or more chemotherapies. Among those with BRCA-mutant ovarian cancers, 54% had a partial or complete response to the drug with a median duration response of 9.2 months. The agency also approved a companion diagnostic …
Permanent link to this article: https://inheritedcancer.net/6nlw2017/
With increasing use of multi-gene panel tests, one of the genes in which mutations are frequently detected among breast cancer patients and others is the CHEK2 gene. This gene has been shown to have a 2-3 fold excess risk for breast cancer. There are many CHEK2 mutations that have been identified that generally fall into …
Permanent link to this article: https://inheritedcancer.net/8nlw2017/
Among 799 patients with prostate cancer, the rate of BRCA1/2 mutations was much higher among those who passed away of prostate cancer (6.07%) compared to those with low risk disease (1.44%).1 Among the group that died of prostate cancer, those with BRCA1/2 or ATM mutations passed away at an earlier age and had a shorter …
Permanent link to this article: https://inheritedcancer.net/3nlw2017/
Additional guidance pertaining to cancer risk management was provided in the most recent version of the NCCN Guidelines for inherited breast and ovarian cancer. These guidelines now include an expanded table outlining cancer risks and management for each gene, taking into account the age at initiation of each risk management modality as well as footnotes …
Permanent link to this article: https://inheritedcancer.net/1nlw2017/
There continues to be rapid advances in identifying new genes involved in inherited cancer risk. An example of yet another recently identified gene is FAN1, in which a nonsense variant (i.e. the premature change or loss of a protein) was identified following exome sequencing in 3 individuals from a family who met clinical criteria for …
Permanent link to this article: https://inheritedcancer.net/4nlw2017/
The following question was addressed by Dr. Steven Narod who is a Tier I Canada Research Chair in Breast Cancer and a senior scientist at the Women’s College Research Institute in Toronto, Canada. Dr. Narod is a world-leader in the field of breast and ovarian cancer genetics. Q. Does salpingo-oophorectomy reduce the risk of breast …
Permanent link to this article: https://inheritedcancer.net/7nlw2017/
People with Lynch Syndrome have a non-working Lynch gene (“mutation”), while the other copy of that gene is normal (recognizing that all of these genes come in pairs, with one member of the pair coming from each parent). Over the last few years, there has been an increased realization that some individuals have a mutation …
Permanent link to this article: https://inheritedcancer.net/2nlw2017/
A recent study compared psychosocial adjustment and risk perception among 11 to 19 year old daughters of women with breast cancer, comparing those with a BRCA mutation versus those without.1 The overall findings from the study were reassuring, suggesting that adolescent girls from BRCA-positive families had higher self-esteem and similar psychosocial adjustment compared to their …
Permanent link to this article: https://inheritedcancer.net/5nlw2017/
