Jefferson study shows women with inherited breast cancer gene at greater risk for recurrence and ...( ine the question of whether thosewom...)

Dr. Turner and his co-workers looked at the frequency of alterations in BRCA1 and BRCA2 in 52 breast cancer patients who, between 1973 and 1994, were treated with breast-conserving lumpectomy and radiation, and who subsequently developed a recurrent cancer in the same breast. They compared these women to 52 other women who had localized breast cancer and were treated similarly but did not experience recurrent disease.

The researchers found that eight, or 15 percent, of the 52 women who had further breast cancer also carried a damaged BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene. In women 40 or under with recurrent breast cancer, six of 15, or 40 percent, had a damaged inherited BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene. In contrast, only one of 15 women in the comparison group who did not have any recurrent cancers carried the bad gene.

The scientists also found that it took longer--an average of about eight years--for women with an altered BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene to relapse than it did women without the damaged gene (slightly less than five years on average). They then carefully examined the tumors using molecular and histologic analysis, thinking these were old cancers that had returned. Instead, they found that some of the tumors were actually completely new breast cancers. The new cancers took an average of 8.5 years to develop.

"If this study is validated with a larger prospective study, it may suggest that BRCA1 or BRCA2 testing may be reasonable to determine optimal breast cancer treatment--either breast-conserving therapy or mastectomy for younger women with family histories of breast or ovarian cancer," Dr. Turner says.

Dr. Turner believes that the study results may present women and their physicians with
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Contact: Steve Benowitz
steven.benowitz@mail.tju.edu
215-955-6300
Thomas Jefferson University
29-Sep-1999