Jewish Women’s Breast and Ovarian Cancer
Approximately 5-10% of all breast and ovarian cancers are hereditary in nature. However, we currently know only a handful of genes that are responsible for hereditary breast and ovarian cancer.
For example, some genes that may cause hereditary breast cancer include BRCA1, BRCA2, p53, and PTEN. Furthermore, it is understood that not everyone who carries a mutation in a gene that causes breast or ovarian cancer will actually develop cancer.
The purpose of our study is twofold. First, it is to investigate unknown genes that may be responsible for hereditary breast and/or ovarian cancer. Secondly, the study hopes to identify modifier genes that may interact with known hereditary breast and/or ovarian cancer genes (i.e. BRCA1 and BRCA2) to protect some individuals from getting cancer.
Overall, we hope the study will provide individuals with a more personalized assessment on their risk to develop breast or ovarian cancer and offer some families additional testing in regards to their strong family history of breast and ovarian cancer.
Any Ashkenazi Jewish woman is eligible for the study if she meets at least one of the following criteria:
- Any woman who comes from a “high risk” family.
- Any woman with a personal history of cancer who is known to carry a mutation in BRCA1 or BRCA2.
- Any woman over the age of 60 years who is known to have a mutation in BRCA1 or BRCA2 and has not developed cancer.
- Any healthy woman over the age of 70 years who has not been diagnosed with breast or ovarian cancer.
Funding for this study has been provided by the Jewish Women’s Foundation of New York, and the Shrifrin-Myer Breast Cancer Research Fund.
For any additional questions or comments, please contact the coordinating genetic counselor, Lauren Carpiniello, at (212) 263-5528.
