Approximately 181,600 women acquired breast/ovarian cancer in the United States in 1997. In that same year, 44,190 women died due to their mutation (Pharaoh). The process of screening healthy women associates with the detection of compact tumors, tumors that have a lower susceptibility of metastasizing, the ability to conserve the breast during axillary surgery, and the overall smaller chance of requiring chemotherapy (Clark). Breast/ovarian cancer appears detrimental and petrifying but with the correct treatment and overall knowledge, many lives could remain stable and safe.
Breast cancer, an uncontrollable growing lump of cells residing in the breasts, can change an entire person’s life in one moment. However, through many detailed processes,
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Women who inherit a mutation in one copy of BRCA1 or BRCA2 are at high risk of developing breast and ovarian cancers6. This could be due to the disruption in the pathway of BRCA proteins in the cell nucleus. If BRCA1 is defective, it loses its ability to fix damaged DNA and causes tumor. It is because once the defective BRCA1 raises, it allows the cells to develop and divide uncontrollably. Since defective in BRCA1 causes cancers, it is important to understanding the function of the protein by analyzing its sequence and structure.
Over the past decade breast cancer has become one of the most predominant diseases in the United States. Breast cancer starts out as a malignant tumor in the tissues of the breast which is formed from the uncontrolled growth of abnormal breast cells. Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women, but it can also appear in men. (Stephan, 2010)
Breast cancer is most commonly diagnosed in Stage I and Stage II, where the size of the tumor is less than five centimeters in diameter. In these situations, surgery is often the second treatment option after chemotherapy and radiation therapy, both of which are used to shrink the tumor to a manageable size first. If the patient chooses to, the ...
Giurescu, M., Hu, T., & Obembe, O. (2010). Role of imaging in breast cancer detection.
A mutation in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene is associated with an increased risk of ovarian cancer
About 12% of women in the United States will develop breast cancer in their lifetime, more than any other type of cancer (www.breastcancer.org, 2015). Many people lack the knowledge of how breast cancer is developed. Some people think they will not get cancer because they do not smoke cigarettes, but this is not the only cause of cancer developing in the breast. Anyone can get cancer. Everyone is potentially at risk for developing some form of Cancer (American Cancer Society, 2015).
5-10 percent of breast cancer is caused by inherited genetic mutations. “2-5 percent caused by inherited mutations in BRCA 1 and BRCA 2 genes”. High doses of radiation, such as treating the disease, in women under 30 shows the higher increased risk for breast cancer. Having a risk factor, or even several, doesn’t mean that you will get the disease. If you are overweight, the connection between that and breast cancer risk is complex, about 25 percent.
There are many risks that affect breast cancer. One of the reasons it is more common, is because we have better medical equipment that detects breast cancer at an earlier stage than before. An estimated 192,370 new cases of breast cancer will occu...
According to Breast Cancer Statistics, Breast cancer usually occurs in women between the ages of 35 and 65, even though fifty percent of all breast cancer is of women sixty-five and older (Breast Cancer Statistics, 2008). Although the cause of cancer is unknown, there are factors that increase the chances of getting it. These facto...
In order for a woman to consider her case of breast cancer to be hereditary, she must contain either the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene mutation in her genetic make up. Hundreds of mutations have been found in both genes and almost all of the mutations identified are primitive mutations found in only a single family. Most of the mutations result in a miss-formed protein product; thus the nature of these mutations is easily interpreted. Two successive acquired mutations occurring in a single cell are necessary for the development of cancer. Mutations anywhere along either gene are associated with an increased risk for breast cancer. (Transmed Network-Breast Cancer-Characteristics of Hereditary Breast Cancer, 1997).
Over the years, the fight against ovarian cancer has proven to be even more difficult due to the cancer being asymptomatic at its early stages. For this reason, there are constantly late diagnoses made on women who unfortunately develop this cancer (Stack).... ... middle of paper ... ...
Breast cancer is a disease that is frightening and can be harmful to many people, however as more time passes more is known. The thirty percent decrease in death due to breast cancer is tremendous and it is just a start. By understanding the prevention, treatment, symptoms breast cancer is a disease that can be beat.
There are many different reasons that woman maybe at a higher risk for breast cancer than other woman. Family history is risk factors that increase a woman’s likelihood of getting breast cancer. What this means is if a woman is in a family where this disease is common among female or even males they are at a higher risk for being diagnosed with breast cancer than someone who is in a family where breast cancer is not common. If the relative that has this disease is one that is very close meaning they are either a sister, mother, or daughter the likelihood that said person will also contract the disease is then doubled. This is mainly due to the fact that in close relations you are able to inherit the genes BrcA-1 or BrcA-2, these genes are mutation genes that play a role in controlling the growth of cancer cell. Only a small portion of women inherit this gene about 1 in 500 to be exact, however when they do inherit this gene they have a 80% chance of developing breast cancer in their lifetime. This gene causes woman to develop cancer at a younger age usually before the time they hit menopause. Also, women with this gene have a greater risk of developing cancer in both breasts which is called bilateral breasts cancer. This is due to the fact that once the cancer develops in one breast the risk for developing it in the other breast increases. (“Breast Cancer”) "About 5 to 10% of breast cancer is hereditary, passed from one generation to the next via a variety of mutated genes". (Port 95-105) Lastly,
Rosen, Leo and Rosen, Gloria. (2011).Learn About Cancer. American Cancer Society. Retrieved November 26, 2015 from http://www.cancer.org/cancer/breastcancer/index
In addition, limited data indicate that the prevalence of specific harmful BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations may vary among individual racial and ethnic groups in the United States, including African Americans, Hispanics, Asian Americans, and non-Hispanic white.