Eeles R
Nurs Times. 1995;91(5):29-33.
About 5% of breast cancer may be caused by dominant susceptibility genes, which can be inherited. This would equate to 1250 cases per year in the UK and 9000 in the USA. Even within these cases, there is genetic heterogeneity, meaning there are several genes involved, each giving rise to different patterns of other cancers associated with the familial breast cancer. The identification of these genes will enable the entity of familial breast cancer to be more precisely defined and has implications for management of these breast cancer patients, and their at-risk relatives. The problem with this new area of cancer genetics is that the identification of gene carriers may become possible, and this raises ethical and social issues.
约5%的乳腺癌可能由可遗传的显性易感基因引起。这相当于英国每年有1250例病例，美国每年有9000例病例。即使在这些病例中，也存在基因异质性，即涉及多个基因，每个基因都会引发与家族性乳腺癌相关的其他癌症的不同模式。这些基因的识别将使家族性乳腺癌的实体能够得到更精确的定义，并对这些乳腺癌患者及其高危亲属的管理产生影响。癌症遗传学这一新领域的问题在于，识别基因携带者可能成为现实，这引发了伦理和社会问题。
