Does Breast Cancer Skip A Generation?
someone once told me that breast cancer skips a generation, if so then im in line. my grandmother had it but my mother did not,nor her sisters. but then im the only girl in my family so im a little concerned. thank you.
November 1st, 2009 at 8:04 am
Hereditary breast cancer is rare – only 5 – 10% of all cases are hereditary.
If your grandmother’s was an isolated case of breast cancer within your family, then you aren’t at increased risk.
No, it doesn’t skip a generation
There are two faulty genes so far identified as responsible for hereditary breast cancer , BRCA1 and BRCA2. If someone carries one of these genes, their children each have a 50% chance of inheriting it. If one of those children doesn’t inherit the gene, nor will their children.
(I have a friend who carries a faulty BRCA gene – both her daughters have been tested, one has inherited it, the other hasn’t.)
If someone inherits one of the faulty genes, they will not definitely develop breast cancer. So while the gene cannot ‘skip a generation’, the cancer can appear to if, say, a woman has a faulty gene and develops breast cancer; her daughter inherits the gene but doesn’t develop breast cancer; her grandaughter also inherits the gene and develops breast cancer. But this isn’t a pattern, it’s a possible scenario. It’s not true to say breast cancer skips a generation.
With only one case of breast cancer in your family, you are not at increased risk.
After I was diagnosed with breast cancer, I was assured that mine wasn’t hereditary and that other members of my largely female family were not at increased risk. It was random, like 90+% of breast cancers.
November 1st, 2009 at 8:17 am
Breast cancer is not always a hereditary condition.
Only about 10% of cancers are hereditary.
If your family carries the gene that causes it, the gene does not skip generations.
Having one 2nd degree relation with breast cancer (Grandma is 2nd degree) is not considered an increased risk factor.
This does not mean you won’t get breast cancer, just that you are at no more risk than the average.
November 1st, 2009 at 9:08 am
Cancer can be genetic, but there are so many factors that contribute to who gets it. You have an increased chance simply because it runs in your family, but the pattern of whom it hits doesn’t necessarily mean anything. You are really no more likely to get it than your mother nad her sisters were.