Her2/ most inherited type of BC?

[Lani]

I think MD Anderson looks at EGFR in its BRCA+ patients as they seem to often be triple negative and have an increased incidence of EGFR positivity...Also it gives them a possible targetted drug to treat with.

As neither Iressa, Tarceva and Erbitux is officially approved for breast cancer I think they feel testing would not be "clinically relevant" But if you don't test, you don't find out and you don't make progress against the disease.

My two cents.

[Sherryg683]

I've heard and read that HER2 is not hereditary either...hopeing that's the case for my daughter..sherryg683

[Bev]

Zero cancer in my family tree. Prior to Dx, I thought I had a slim chance of getting BC. Plenty of my relatives smoked or drank. Causes of death in their 90's was perhaps banging their heads. I knew they shouldn't have been climbing on the countertops to get cooking gear down. They'll figure this out eventually. My uneducated opinion is that HER2 is sporadic. If it is not, we just happen to be the 1st generation it has occurred in. Would love to know more. BB

[Lani]

considering getting tested:
7 December 2006
BRCA prevalence, impact underestimated
BRCAgene mutations are more prevalent than previously thought and predispose to a wide variety of cancers, researchers have found.

About 1% of the general population in Ontario, Canada, harbor BRCA mutations, the researchers estimate, and these appear to multiply the risk of testicular and pancreatic as well as breast and ovarian cancer.

The team recommends that BRCA mutations "should be suspected in families with breast, ovarian, and various other cancers in male relatives as well as female."

Knowledge of the proportion of people carrying mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2 and the associated cancer risk "is important for genetic screening and counseling," Harvey Risch (Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, USA) and colleagues note.

To investigate, they studied the results of screening for germline BRCA mutations in 1171 women who were diagnosed with ovarian cancer in Ontario between 1995 and 1999, and studied the incidence of cancer in 8680 of the women's first-degree relatives.

Among the 977 participants with invasive ovarian cancer, 75 had mutations in BRCA1 and 54 in BRCA2, giving an overall mutation prevalence of 13.2%, the researchers report in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

Using these values and the relative risk of cancer estimated for the probands' relatives, Risch et al calculated the frequencies of mutation carriage in the general population of Ontario.

Carriage of BRCA1 mutations was linked to a 21-fold increased risk of ovarian cancer, an 11-fold increase in female breast cancer, and a 17-fold increased risk of testicular cancer. Novel associations were also made with the BRCA2 mutation, which was linked to 4.6-fold increase in male and female breast cancers and a 6.6-fold increase in pancreatic cancer, alongside a seven-fold increase in ovarian cancer.

The team also assessed how the location of mutations within the coding sequence of the BRCA genes influenced the associated risk. "For BRCA2, compared with no mutation, we found increased risk [for breast cancer] associated with mutations outside of the ovarian cancer cluster region (OCCR) but not with mutations in the OCCR," they report.

If confirmed, this finding indicates that "patients carrying such mutations may be able to avoid disfiguring prophylactic mastectomy," the team notes.

"Our lifetime ovarian cancer penetrance estimate for BRCA2 mutations is also low and indicates that women with BRCA2 mutations may be able to delay prophylactic oophorectomy until menopause," Risch and colleagues conclude.



J Natl Cancer Inst 2006; 98: 1694-1706

http://jncicancerspectrum.oxfordjour...nci;98/23/1694
© 2006 CMG

[MJo]

On my mother's side I had five great aunts who got breast cancer in their 40s --two of my grandfather's sisters and three of my grandmother's sisters. Then it skipped a generation -- nobody from my mother's generation got breast cancer. I'm the only one that I know of with BC from my generation so far. Go figure.

[Jackie]

I have an aunt on my father's side that died of breast cancer about 15 years ago. She was in 50's.My father died of melanoma 27 yrs. ago. He was 48. There is no bc on my mother's side. In fact my grandmother is the only one who had any cancer. It was a very slow growing cancer in her gums. She was in her 90's when this was dx. She didn't die from it, just old age.


I had always been told to look at your mother's side of the family. I was greatly surprised by my dx. I did not have any factors that are listed as risk factors in bc.

[rinaina]

No history of breast cancer or any cancer on either side of my family. I am the only one who has had breast cancer. My mother died of complications from diabetes and congestive heart disease at the age of 74. Her mother, my grandmother lived until she was 87 when she died of a heart attack but she was healthy until then. My dad is 80 and has diabetes that is well under control. His mother lived until she was 86 and also had diabetes. I always was worried about getting diabetes given the strong adult onset history in my family. Never thought about the possibility of getting cancer with no family history yet here I am at the age of 55, relatively healthy except for this years diagnosis of Her2+ breast cancer.

[Kimberly Lewis]

My paternal Aunt informed me after I was diagnosed that my grandmother, great grandmother, and great grandmother's sister all died of breast cancer very young. My grandmother was only 34. I don't know what that means if anything - no other cases reported in my family that I am aware of. I tried to get the genetic couseling but BCBS didn't cover it and I didn't have the $1000. to spend!

[kristen]

Since that post my sister has been dx with BC. She I believe will be er+. She is having her double mast in about a week.
My family history is 13 girl cousins and 4 have/had BC. I am the only one who has been Her2. 2 of us had it at age 41 where the other 2 had it at 53 and 62.
On my paternal side, my cousin (er+) also had BC at 41 and her and I have both been tested and are neg for BRAC's.
My Aunt the mother of the other 2 cousins had ovarian cancer at age 51 and an great aunt who had a mast. sometime in her life, we found out when she passed away at age 90+, back then they didn't talk about it. So if there is any other BC in our family, we don't know about it.
Cancer runs high in our family, 2 uncles have had prostate,1 bone and we have had other frightening diseases in our family: Ataxia is supposed to be very limited and yet 3 of my second cousins have it from 2 different sets of parents, go figure? Genetics is a wide open field and one I find hard at times to follow when you see the toll it takes on your family but finding all the links and so forth are way out of my league.
Kat, sorry I didn't see this post earlier, but i think you got your answer, as of right now, her2 is not hereditary from what they say, but reading all these and looking at my own family history, I gotta think they are missing something or it really does have something to do with envirtomental issues?

[BethSh]

I am 46 years and dx in August of 2006, Her2 pos, IDC with pos lymph nodes, Stage IIA. I am post menapausal. I finished 4 A/C and am currently taking Taxol and Hercepton for 12 weeks.

I tested negative for the BRAC1 and 2 genes.

I have a deep family history going back 3 generations. I am the 4th generation, (at least as far back as I know)

My mother was dx at the age of 36 in 1972. She had a recurrence in her 4th year and passed away 7 years later at 47. Her uncle, was dx with breast cancer at a old age and pass away from it and his mother, my great-grandmother also had breast cancer at a young age, yet lived to be 80 and died from another cause.

Needless to say, I have been wondering about my mother's illnesss, I was young at the time and don't know much. It been over 22 years and my father doesn't recall much. I've thought about inquiring about her records, but don't know what that would solve even if they have them.

I am mindful that my mother lived 11 years, it was not easy, yet I have hope that if our cancers are the same or similiar that with all the new meds, I can beat this or at best enjoy a long life.

[Becky]

My mother and 2 of her sisters (out of 4) had BC. All strongly ER/PR+. One of her sisters died from the disease but she ignored her lump for 5 years (this is true) and when she finally let herself be treated she had lung mets and 19 affected nodes. She still did ok for years and lived 5 years beyond diagnosis (passed away in 1995). I am sure if she did something right away, she would still be with us now.


My mom is one of the youngest of 11 children so I am one of the youngest cousins and the only one of my generation to have bc. My mom and the 2 sisters who got bc worked in the steel mills as young women (ages 17 - 24). The ones who didn't did not get bc. One brother worked there too and got lung cancer. This was the only cancer in their family.

I tested negative for BRCA 1 & 2. I lived on a golf course and in a county in NJ who has the highest rates of bc in the state. This is why I moved in February (to help protect my kids) as golf courses use alot of chemicals.

Sometimes I think we (my family) has a mild genetic weakness but some type of exposure pushed us over the edge. Maybe, maybe not.

[RhondaH]

http://susanlovemd.org/breastcancer/...ID=37&CATID=20

Rhonda

[lkc Gumby]

Hi All,

My Mom, My maternal aunt, and my moms only sister all had BC.
I am first generation with it. Myolder sister tested neg for BRAC1 & 2.
I am est/prog neg & Her+++.
My moms ca was est/prog pos, and all my relatives had thier BCs post menopausal except me.
Go Fiquire.
Linda
Stage IIIC 12 out of 14 pos nodes,
20 mos out of tx, NED

[Lani]

Will see if we can consolidate posts on this.

[Linda]

Hmmm.
Both of my grandmothers had bc. One dx at 45, the other in her early 70's. Both had extensive surgery, no other treatment and went on to live long lives!
I also had 2 uncles (on either side) die of colon cancer (colon and bc are somehow related), one non smoker uncle died of lung cancer and my dad died of multiple myeloma (immune system/bone cancer). No sisters or blood related aunts.
BRCA neg.
Linda
Stage 3a
er/pr-
dx 5/05 NED

[Hopeful]

Here is a link to the Medscape article I was looking for. You may need to register (for free) to access it. Title: Her-2/neu Gene Amplification in Familial vs. Sporadic Breast Cancer: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/465635

The authors state:

"The study reveals 2 important findings: (1) Her-2/neu gene amplification is more frequent among patients with a family history of breast cancer than in patients with sporadic tumors. (2) Our results indicate that in familial breast cancer, Her-2/neu gene amplification is associated with more aggressive and advanced clinicopathologic features, whereas in sporadic breast cancer, Her-2/neu gene status does not confer significantly different clinical behavior of the disease."

Hopeful

[Lani]

times. I didn't want to do so again, as it is a bit alarming considering the article was based on only a relatively small number of patients.

Let's keep our eyes open for more articles on the topic and see if we can get someone interested in it (especially the FOXP3, as it shows an important connection between the immune system and her2+ bc)

Thanks for providing the link (I am lousy at "linking")

[Joanne S]

This is the same topic as last month's post:

click: Inheriting HER2+ ???

Joanne S

[AlaskaAngel]

Could some of this non-BRCA bc have an epigenetic basis?

I know that since my BRCA results came back (negative), there have been other genetic pieces of the puzzle ferreted out. Myriad stated on the results that as time went by if other types were identified, they would contact me....

Since I have one aunt who died of bc mets to the brain I wonder if hers was HER2 positive, but she died many decades ago. No one else in the family died of bc, and all lived fairly long lives or are still living without recurrence. Which, again, makes me wonder why risk is not considered in regard to the longevity/recurrence of those in the family who have had bc?

A.A.

[Karen W]

Hi AA,

As I have mentioned in earlier posts, I am the 12th person on my mom's side of the family to get bc. In your post you mentioned something about your aunt dying of brain mets and wondering if she was her2+. My aunt died from mets to many different places, one of which was the brain and she was triple negative.

She was dx with mets right when Herceptin was approved for use in women with mets. I think her doc was hoping that she was her2+, so he could use Herceptin.

Karen