Cancer Is A Genetic Disease

Cancer Is A Genetic Disease.
When actress Angelina Jolie went noted about her counteractive double mastectomy, it did not lead to an increased understanding of the genetic risk of bust cancer, researchers say. Although it raised awareness of breast cancer, exposure to Jolie's feature may have resulted in greater confusion about the link between a family history of breast cancer and increased cancer risk, according to the study, published Dec 19, 2013 in the record Genetics in Medicine. Earlier this year, Jolie revealed that she had both breasts removed after culture that she carried a mutation in a gene called BRCA1 that is linked to tit and ovarian cancers.

Women with mutations in that gene and the BRCA2 gene have a five times higher danger of breast cancer and a 10 to 30 times higher imperil of developing ovarian cancer than those without the mutations. For the study, researchers surveyed more than 2500 Americans. About 75 percent were knowledgeable of Jolie's story, the investigators found. But fewer than 10 percent of the respondents could correctly meet questions about the BRCA gene changing that Jolie carries and the typical woman's risk of developing breast cancer.

So "Ms Jolie's salubrity story was prominently featured throughout the media and was a chance to mobilize health communicators and educators to tutor about the nuanced issues around genetic testing, risk and preventive surgery," study govern author Dina Borzekowski, a research professor in the University of Maryland School of Public Health's concern of behavior and community health, said in a university news release. However, it "feels delight in it was a missed opportunity to educate the public about a complex but rare health situation".