BRCA1 Mutations Worse Than Expected
Published: Tuesday March 9th, 2010
Dr. Steven Narod, director of the Familial Breast Cancer Research Unit at Canada's Women's College Research Institute (WCRI) & Dr. Judith Hurley of the University of Miami Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center let us know today that results from retesting genetic samples from the Bahamas show that 25% of women have a BRCA1 mutation. This is the highest known incidence in the world.
They write:
*The results of our research into the genetic basis of breast cancer in the Bahamas is even more dramatic than we first thought - so far, 25% of all women tested with breast cancer have been positive for the breast cancer gene. This is the highest rate of inherited breast cancer in the world and is a reflection of our island heritage and our tightly-knit community.
In practical terms, we have started to return to the places where women were tested to hold workshops for those who have a positive test result. The workshops are for the women with inherited breast cancer and their families. We discuss what the test results mean to the individual and to their family. The next day we offer genetic testing to the family members who came to the workshop and want to be tested. We also hope to learn from the women who attend these workshops the best ways that we can communicate risk to women in the Bahamas and how we can best meet their needs.
In the next year we will expand on these findings and will involve more Bahamian women. We will start a massive study designed to determine how common the breast cancer gene is in the general population. Over the next 2 years we will offer free genetic testing to 2000 women who go for screening mammograms. This is the first program of its type in the world. We are going to find out the causes of breast cancer in the Bahamas and we are going to find ways to fight it. The Ride For Hope and the Bahamas Breast Cancer Initiative are working together with the Cancer Society of the Bahamas to solve the problem of breast cancer in the Bahamas.*