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Breast Cancer

BREAST CANCER RACE ADN GENE

05/07/2001 09:06PM

Question:

HELLO I M WORKING ON MY FINAL BIOLOGY PROJECT ON BREAST CANCER AND I REALLY WANT TO KNOW WHAT GENE IS IT LOCATED ON AND WHAT RACE ETHNICITY DOES IT AFFECTS THANK YOU

Answer:

Thank you for your question. Including the epidemiology in your project is very important. Only 5%-10%of all breast cancers can be attributed to genetic factors. BRCA1 and BRCA2 are the names of the genes involved in about 3%-4%of breast cancer cases. Women who carry the BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene alterations might never develop breast cancer. Women who test negative for the gene mutations may still develop breast cancer. Women in the United States have a one in eight lifetime chance of getting breast cancer. I offer you these statistics quoted from the National Cancer Institute.

Women of all races are affected by breast cancer. The incidence is highest in the white race(113 per 100,000 population). In comparison, the incidence among black women is approximately 99 per 100,000 population, Asian is 72, American Indian is 34, and Hispanic is about 69 per 100,000 population in the United States. These statistics for the year 2000 gives you the incidence by ethnicity as compiled by the American Cancer Society.

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Response by:

University of Cincinnati Janet Trigg, RN, MSN, EdD
Associate Professor, Emeritus
College of Nursing
University of Cincinnati
Janet Trigg, RN, MSN, EdD