Gene Mutations Don't Increase Death Rates for Breast Cancer

By Kate McHugh, Ivanhoe Health Correspondent

ORLANDO, Fla. (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Women of Ashkenazi Jewish descent are more likely to inherit mutated BRCA genes, which are linked to breast cancer, than the general population. A new study reveals, however, this doesn't increase their risk of dying from the disease.

Every woman is born with BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes. However, mutations of these genes -- which can be passed down through families -- have a 60-percent to 80-percent chance of developing breast cancer by age 70. In the general population, approximately one in 450 women inherit one of these genetic mutations. However, in the Ashkenazi Jewish population, approximately one in 40 women inherit the genetic mutation, making them 10-times more likely to have the mutation than the average woman.

According to a recent study, this increased risk of developing breast cancer does not carry over to the severity of the disease. Researchers looked at more than 1,500 medical records from Israeli women between 1987 and 1989. They also used tumor specimens from these women to gather further information about the severity of their particular case. Results showed breast cancer-specific rates of death among Ashkenazi Jewish women are similar to death rates for noncarriers.

"Women with these mutations often consider preventive measures, such as preventive surgery -- meaning prophylactic mastectomies -- so testaments of breast cancer survival are important for women making those decisions," Paula D. Ryan, M.D., Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and medical oncologist at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, told Ivanhoe. "If the data suggests that breast cancer rates -- related to survival outcomes -- are similar, then that can help a person decide whether to go the route of prevention rather than intensive surveillance."

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SOURCE: Ivanhoe interview with Paula Ryan, M.D., Ph.D.; The New England Journal of Medicine, 2007;357:115-123