Ask A Scientist© Molecular Biology Archive

name       Emily
status     student
age        14

Question - Can Breast Cancer Skip Generations?


The inheritance of breast cancer accounts for less than 5% of all known
breast cancers. Furthermore, even the presence of the gene(s) associated
with breast-cancer risk is a poor predictor of whether the individual will
get breast cancer.... In other words, even if you inherit the brca gene,
which is the gene involved with many of those 5% of breast cancers, it does
NOT mean you will get breast cancer...Furthermore, NO one can accurately
predict whether a single person carrying the gene will get breast cancer.

Dr. Faletra
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