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American Morning
Genetic Testing Proves Big Help in Breast Cancer Risk Evaluation
Aired October 24, 2003 - 09:44 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: October is breast cancer awareness month, and a new study highlights the importance of genetic risk factors. Dr. Sanjay Gupta is at the CNN Center with details for us this morning.
In fact, Sanjay, this study shows that genetics really plays a much bigger role than people originally thought, right?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Soledad, exactly. The woman's risk of developing breast cancer, all women, about 10 percent. But how can you better define that risk? That's been the question researchers have been trying to ask for some time.
You're absolutely right, Soledad. There's two mutations, gene mutations. They're called BRCA-1 and BRCA-2. They stand for Breast Cancer One and Breast Cancer Two.
How much of an impact do they have? For a long time that was a little bit of a black box. But now a study actually looking at over 1,000 women, specifically Jewish women in this case, showed specifically what the increased lifetime risk was for women with either mutation. About 82 percent, I should point out, as well.
While the study was done in a particular population of women, these numbers can really be used for all women with family history or no family history.
Also ovarian cancer was also looked at in this particular study. If you have the one mutation, an increase of 54 percent chance of developing the ovarian cancer, 23 percent lifetime risk with the BRCA- 2 mutation.
So some significant news there, Soledad. Also when you think about breast cancer and the mutations, usually think about it coming from your mother. Well they found that half the time, 50 percent of the time, the mutation actually came from the father, as well.
So some important news coming out of this particular study here -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: How do women get tested for these mutations? I mean how are they able to assess their risk if they don't know that much about the history of breast cancer in their family?
GUPTA: It's interesting. All the doctors will still tell you that family history is still very important. Don't discount that by any means.
But there is ways to get tested. There is testing that can be done. Right now it's not usually covered by insurance, which is a real problem, because this is pretty expensive test, $1,000 to $3,000 depending on where you're going and exactly what test you're getting done.
With studies like this, though, this may become more of a common test, and therefore may be covered by insurance, as well. It is tough sometimes, because, Soledad, in addition to the medical issues there are ethical issues.
If a woman knows that her lifetime risk is eight times higher than it otherwise would have been, what does that mean in terms of her employment status? In terms of her ability to get insurance? These are issues that are going to come up with genetic testing in the future, as well -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: No question about that. Sanjay, thanks.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Evaluation>
Aired October 24, 2003 - 09:44 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: October is breast cancer awareness month, and a new study highlights the importance of genetic risk factors. Dr. Sanjay Gupta is at the CNN Center with details for us this morning.
In fact, Sanjay, this study shows that genetics really plays a much bigger role than people originally thought, right?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Soledad, exactly. The woman's risk of developing breast cancer, all women, about 10 percent. But how can you better define that risk? That's been the question researchers have been trying to ask for some time.
You're absolutely right, Soledad. There's two mutations, gene mutations. They're called BRCA-1 and BRCA-2. They stand for Breast Cancer One and Breast Cancer Two.
How much of an impact do they have? For a long time that was a little bit of a black box. But now a study actually looking at over 1,000 women, specifically Jewish women in this case, showed specifically what the increased lifetime risk was for women with either mutation. About 82 percent, I should point out, as well.
While the study was done in a particular population of women, these numbers can really be used for all women with family history or no family history.
Also ovarian cancer was also looked at in this particular study. If you have the one mutation, an increase of 54 percent chance of developing the ovarian cancer, 23 percent lifetime risk with the BRCA- 2 mutation.
So some significant news there, Soledad. Also when you think about breast cancer and the mutations, usually think about it coming from your mother. Well they found that half the time, 50 percent of the time, the mutation actually came from the father, as well.
So some important news coming out of this particular study here -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: How do women get tested for these mutations? I mean how are they able to assess their risk if they don't know that much about the history of breast cancer in their family?
GUPTA: It's interesting. All the doctors will still tell you that family history is still very important. Don't discount that by any means.
But there is ways to get tested. There is testing that can be done. Right now it's not usually covered by insurance, which is a real problem, because this is pretty expensive test, $1,000 to $3,000 depending on where you're going and exactly what test you're getting done.
With studies like this, though, this may become more of a common test, and therefore may be covered by insurance, as well. It is tough sometimes, because, Soledad, in addition to the medical issues there are ethical issues.
If a woman knows that her lifetime risk is eight times higher than it otherwise would have been, what does that mean in terms of her employment status? In terms of her ability to get insurance? These are issues that are going to come up with genetic testing in the future, as well -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: No question about that. Sanjay, thanks.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Evaluation>
