No need for gene screens in breast cancer families

Research reported today should provide relief to women who are worried after a relative's breast cancer diagnosis. The study in the open access journal BMC Cancer shows that a family history of breast cancer does not give a useful indication of the likelihood that a woman will develop it herself at an early age.

An increased risk of breast cancer for relatives of breast cancer patients has been demonstrated in many studies. As physicians and the general population have become more aware of this increased risk, the demand for referring healthy women with a family history of breast cancer for intensive screening or genetic testing has risen. Geertruida H. de Bock led a team from Leiden University Medical Centre in the Netherlands who investigated whether the increased risk was significant enough to accurately predict breast cancer.

According to de Bock, "Due to the low prevalence of early breast cancer in the population, the predictive value of a family history of breast cancer was 13% before the age of 70, 11% before the age of 50, and 1% before the age of 30." These numbers are much lower than most women would probably expect. As the authors explain, "Applying family history related criteria results in the screening of many women who will not develop breast cancer at an early age."

Given the psychological harm that screening visits can cause, more stringent criteria should be applied to early screening. The researchers recommend that these results be used to "reassure a large number of women regarding their personal breast cancer risk."

1. A family history of breast cancer will not predict female early onset breast cancer in a population-based setting
Geertruida H De Bock, Catharina E Jacobi, Caroline Seynaeve, Elly M.M. Krol-Warmerdam, Jannet Blom, Christi J. Van Asperen, Cees J. Cornelisse, Jan G.M. Klijn, Peter Devilee, Rob A.E.M. Tollenaar, Cecile T.M Brekelmans and Johannes C. Van Houwelingen
BMC Cancer (in press)

During embargo, article available here: http://www.biomedcentral.com/imedia/7378866501828522_article.pdf?random=375674
After the embargo, article available at journal website: http://www.biomedcentral.com/bmccancer/

Please name the journal in any story you write. If you are writing for the web, please link to the article. All articles are available free of charge, according to BioMed Central's open access policy.

Article citation and URL available on request at press@biomedcentral.com on the day of publication.

2. BMC Cancer is an open access journal publishing original peer-reviewed research articles in all aspects of research relating to cancer, including molecular biology, genetics, pathophysiology, epidemiology, clinical reports, and controlled trials. BMC Cancer (ISSN 1471-2407) is indexed/tracked/covered by PubMed, MEDLINE, CAS, Scopus, EMBASE, Thomson Reuters (ISI) and Google Scholar.

3. BioMed Central (http://www.biomedcentral.com/) is an independent online publishing house committed to providing immediate access without charge to the peer-reviewed biological and medical research it publishes. This commitment is based on the view that open access to research is essential to the rapid and efficient communication of science.