The Breast Cancer Gene

With breast cancer and many other hormonal cancers on the rise, people need to be getting routinely tested. The BRCA mutation can be identified through testing which will yield a positive or negative result. This is extremely important for women and men, who have a family history of breast cancer. Ashkenazi Jews in particular are at increased risk with studies showing, one out of every 40 individuals have a mutation in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene. This is compared to one out of every 800 members of the general population, according to the Centers for Disease Control. 

"I did not know I was a carrier because I do not fall within testing parameters. Most insurance companies cover testing specifically for Ashkenazi Jewish women only once we present with breast cancer. Before that doomed moment, testing is only for women who have a family history of BRCA or who have had breast cancer at a young age, or who have close relatives with the disease."
According to Force, an advocacy group concerned with hereditary breast and ovarian cancers, an estimated 90 percent of BRCA carriers do not know that they are. That means untold thousands of people in the United States don’t realize they are likely to get a bad case of breast cancer.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/27/opinion/sunday/elizabeth-wurtzel-the-breast-cancer-gene-and-me.html

I think it is very unfortunate that women and men are not being tested routinely for these cancers especially in populations at high risk (like Ashkenazi Jewish women). This needs to be changed in all areas of health care for testing of high risk cancers.  

http://annonc.oxfordjournals.org/content/15/suppl_1/i7.full.pdf- another link 

A Pregnancy Souvenir: Cells That Are Not Your Own

If you become pregnant does your body still carry your babies cells after birth?  

This new study was done on women who died during child birth to examine if women gain fetal cells during pregnancy.

“In the 1990s, scientists found the first clues that cells from both sons and daughters can escape from the uterus and spread through a mother’s body. They called the phenomenon fetal microchimerism, after the chimera, a monster from Greek mythology that was part lion, goat and dragon” (Zimmer, 2015). 

Before these recent studies this “phenomenon” was thought to be extremely rare but in all actuality very common. It is amazing that cells from one individual integrate into the tissues of another distinct person. These tissues are not just one particular area but tissues from all over the body including ones brain. These studies focused on the Y chromosome that is found in boys to more easily distinguish between mother and child. They found these cells in more than 60 percent of the brains and in multiple brain regions. 

"Fetal microchimerism has been found in a number of mammal species, including dogs, mice and cows. It’s likely that fetal cells have been a part of maternal life for tens of millions of years" (Zimmer, 2015). 

This article talks about further research into the subject of fetal microchimerism on the female biology which I think is very important and interesting. This could led to new discoveries in areas like postpartum mental health which can help us better understand this condition. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/15/science/a-pregnancy-souvenir-cells-that-are-not-your-own.html?_r=0

Another article: http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/10/your-babys-leftover-dna-is-making-you-stronger/381140/ 

New Genetic test changes cancer patients prognosis

Would you want to know if you were dying?

This question is brought up time and time again throughout this article. Ocular melanoma is a rare type of cancer that develops in the cells that produce pigment. Just like developing melanoma on your skin you can also develop in within your eye. New technology used and created by Dr. J. William Harbour is exciting uplifting news for patients with ocular melanoma.  This type of cancer is classified into two classes, class 1 and 2. Class 1 patients, almost half, can be cured when the tumor is removed, leaving them with a bright future. Class 2 patients, almost 70/80%, will die within the next five years. The cancer reemerges in the liver and there is no cure. By removing the eye and biopsying the tumor, researches are able to see what type of genes it contains and what their patients future holds.

“The genes themselves were no different. But a group of several hundred genes that looked the same in cells from patients in Class 1 and Class 2 were acting differently in the patients who did poorly. The genes were churning out many more proteins in the cells of patients in Class 2." 

"Dr. Harbour found that he could look at the activity of 12 of those genes and predict how well a patient would do” (Kolata, 2012). 

I believe this new genetic testing is amazing and needs to be looked at and further researched for testing on different types of cancers and tumors.

Links:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/10/health/genetic-test-changes-game-in-cancer-prognosis.html

_{another link for more information on ocular melanoma: http://www.ocularmelanoma.org/}