Along with other controllable and uncontrollable risk factors , genetics can play a crucial role in determining breast cancer risk levels. When we talk about genetics in our breast health programs , people often ask if there are specific groups more prone to breast cancer. The answer is yes. Genes helps determine physical and functional traits for the body. Jewish people with Ashkenazi heritage are descendants of Jewish settlers that inhabited the Western Germany and Northern France area in the Middle Ages.

Ashkenazi Jewish women should be screened for breast cancer genes



Ashkenazi Jews descend from people, scientists say - Science & Health - agrobirzha.info
Lauren Corduck is riding up in the elevator at Massachusetts General Hospital, territory she knows well now that she's on her sixth course of cancer treatment there. It has included two courses of chemotherapy, radiation to attack a brain tumor that cost her a piece of her vision and more. Now, she's coming in to get a port put into her upper chest for easy access to the new cocktail of chemotherapy she's about to begin. As she waits in a wheelchair, she reflects that coping with advanced ovarian cancer for the last two and a half years has been devastating, "and continues to be devastating, and really grueling for me and my loved ones. And it could almost certainly have been prevented — if she'd had her DNA tested in time and had her ovaries and fallopian tubes removed. So she welcomes an influential national panel's new recommendations on BRCA gene mutations, which convey an unusually high risk of cancer. The panel of experts says that Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry — meaning Jewish forebears from Eastern Europe — is enough to consider genetic testing for BRCA mutations, even without a known family history of cancer.


Ashkenazi Jewish population frequencies for common mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2
Some people have changes, called mutations, in these genes. That is why Ashkenazi Jewish women are at higher risk for breast cancer at a young age. If either of the following are true, you should consider genetic counseling—.



As arrives, the cancer world continues to remain hopeful for breakthroughs. The good news is improved outcomes are on the rise. Jane Lowe Meisel, an oncologist and associate professor of hematology and medical oncology at Winship.