Description:

Increasing awareness of a strong influence of heredity on breast cancer has lead to this comprehensive review article, which is focused on genetic factors related to breast cancer. This article discusses mechanism of carcinogenesis, prevalence and mode of inheritance of BRCA1 and BRCA1, as well as involvement of these genes in other types of cancer. It also discusses 8 other oncogenes and one genomic region associated with breast cancer. Male breast cancer, although rare, is strongly associated with the hereditary factors. This article discusses specific genetic mutations and hereditary conditions, which often lead to male breast cancer. Genetic testing and gene profiling, increasingly used in diagnosis and prognosis of breast cancer, are discussed in detail. This review article covers 26 original research studies and includes analysis of these studies in the context of breast cancer genetics.