BRCA article from Science Daily 9/12/08
BRCA NEWSWORTHY
Risk Of Breast Cancer Mutations Underestimated For Asian Women
You can follow the link to get the entire story! http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080911103920.htm
Oncologist Allison Kurian, MD & colleagues from Stanford University School of Medicine found that models used to identify BRCA positive women worked well for white women but were less reliable for Asian women. They warned that doctors & patients should be more suspicious with Asian women because the true number of cases were under-predicted. Genetic counselors recommend women for BRCA blood testing based on the number of relatives affected by breast & ovarian cancer, the age of each relative when affected & how close the relative is— mom, sister or aunt.
Asian & white women report similar relatives affected with cancer, yet fewer Asian women with the gene develop cancer. With this information family history would be less of a basis for Asian women to be referred for the test. The study points out the need for further investigation in different ethnic groups because “variants of unknown significance” were found more in the genes of Asian women than white women. Variations could be normal for ethnic groups but more studies are needed in ethnic minority groups to know for sure.
Interesting BRCA article 9/24/08 from Canadian Press
BRCA NEWSWORTHY
Hormone Rx May Protect Women With Breast Cancer Gene
You can follow the link to get the entire story!
http://www.cbc.ca/cp/HealthScout/080924/6092415AU.html
The article is written by Amanda Gardner from the Canadian Press- Healthday Reporter.
It tells us about a study done on postmenopausal BRCA positive women who took HRT (hormone replacement therapy) and were found to have a reduced risk of breast cancer. According to Dr. Steven Narod & Dr. Amos Pines the results of the test deem HRT safe for postmenopausal women.
Others like Dr. Regine Sitruk-Ware do not feel as safe recommending HRT to their BRCA positive patients! They feel BRCA positive women should have very little estrogen as possible.
I gathered from the article that women electing to have ovaries & fallopian tubes removed were safer.
So again…nothing concrete or new…just thought I’d share!
More information can be found at: http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/risk/brca.