News

  • High Risk Individuals
    • Breast Cancer Survival Gene
      14/04/2010
      QIMR researchers, as part of an international collaboration, have found that a gene that is most commonly associated with skin pigmentation, hair and eye colour may influence a patient's chances of surviving cancer.
      ...more
    • Research News NBCF!
      12/04/2010
      Researchers at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute have discovered that breast stem cells are exquisitely sensitive to the female hormones oestrogen and progesterone....
      ...more
    • Should Genes be patented
      5/02/2010
      The lawsuit challenges the government's granting of control of patents on BRCA1 and BRCA2 to Myriad Genetics (USA).
      ...more

Questions & Answers

Does the BRCA1 gene cause breast cancer?

The BRCA1 gene is a gene that helps to repair damage to DNA.  Some women have a faulty (mutated) BRCA1 gene.  Women with the mutated BCRA1 gene will not definitely get breast cancer, but they are more likely than other women to get it. 
The BCRA1 gene is one gene that can contribute to a breast cell becoming cancerous if it is mutated. When a mutated BCRA1 gene is passed from parent to child, all the breasts' cells carry this mutation.  They have a 'headstart' in the process of collecting enough genetic mutations to enable them to become cancerous.  But other changes still need to happen to make a cancer start. 

How is BRCA1/BRCA2 inherited?

Explanation of "Patterns of inheritance"