All in the Family?

[Donna]

Hi Amazing Group,

My cousin has just been diagnosed her2-neu. She just got the results back from her biopsy and she is ER+PR+her2-neu3+ just like me. She goes in for surgery next Thursday so we will know the rest of the story by then. But it makes me wonder about the family connection. She will be getting some lessons on how to use the internet so she can join us here. She is on the other coast of the U.S. and it sounds like she is getting exemplary care, it sounds better even than the excellent care I am getting.

Just needed to post this - one more sister (cousin) being added to the fold.

Have a great day everyone!

Donna

[Melinda]

Donna,
Hope she learns quickly, If she is familiar with email you can give her my address - mzerweck1@verizon.net

Its a heck of a reason to learn the computer this way, but I am glad that she has you to steer her to this amazing site. We are waiting for her with open arms. have any idea what name she will be using?
We have lots in common, I was recently Dx, live on the east coast PA and prbablay about the same age????
Melinda

[Lani]

1: Am J Clin Pathol. 2003 Dec;120(6):917-27. Links
Her-2/neu gene amplification in familial vs sporadic breast cancer. Impact on the behavior of the disease.

Espinosa AB,
Tabernero MD,
Garcia-Macias MC,
Primo D,
Bernal AG,
Cruz JJ,
Ramos M,
Font de Mora J,
Gomez Alonso A,
Orfao A.
Cancer Research Center, Department of Medicine, General Cytometry Service, University of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain.
We compared the incidence of Her-2/neu amplification in patients with and without a family history of breast cancer and correlated gene status with clinicobiologic and prognostic features in sporadic and familial cases. Of 108 patients, 28.7% had gene amplification. Among 96 cases with family history information available, 28 had an affected first-degree relative. The gene was amplified more frequently in familial than in sporadic cases (13/28 [46%] vs 14/68 [21%]; P = .01). Among familial cases, amplification was associated with adverse clinicobiologic features (poorly differentiated tumors [P = .05], larger tumors [P = .05], more lymph nodes involved [P = .04], and DNA aneuploid [P = .02] and highly proliferative tumors [P = .005]), and the relapse (P = .02) and disease-related death (P = .05) rates were higher than in cases without amplification. Among sporadic cases, amplification was not associated with significantly different disease features, except for a higher incidence of DNA aneuploid tumors (P = .01), percentage of S-phase tumor cells (P = .006), and lower proportion of estrogen (P = .001) and progesterone (P = .002) receptors. Her-2/neu amplification was observed more frequently among patients with a family history of breast cancer, in whom it was associated with adverse clinicobiologic features and a worse clinical outcome.
PMID: 14671981 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

[Lani]

Department of Radiation Oncology, Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York, NY 10029, USA.
BACKGROUND: The HER2 gene, located on the long arm of chromosome 17, codes for a protein with the characteristics of a growth factor receptor. In a preliminary study, we reported that high levels of tumor HER2 (erbB-2/neu) protein are associated with a family history of breast cancer (that is, one or more female blood relatives with breast cancer). METHODS: We have now collected a larger number of subjects (94) and performed a multivariate analysis of the independent variables family history of breast cancer, tumor estrogen receptor, age, and tumor DNA index. Family history of breast cancer was assessed by questioning the patient, in many cases by telephone. RESULTS: HER2 levels were significantly higher in women with a family history of breast cancer (p = 0.015, two-tailed t-test). The 27 women with family history were predominantly postmenopausal, mean age 61 +/- 2.3 (mean +/- SEM), versus a mean age of 56

+/- 1.7 for the 67 women with no family history. Of the 27 women with a family history of breast cancer, 13 had a first-degree relative (mother or sister) with the disease. The remaining 14 women had other relatives (grandmothers, aunts, cousins, or a niece) with breast cancer. The results of multiple linear regression analysis, with HER2 as the dependent variable, showed that family history of breast cancer was significantly associated with elevated HER2 levels in the tumors (p = 0.0038), after controlling for the effects of age, tumor estrogen receptor, and DNA index. CONCLUSIONS: The association of family history of breast cancer and elevated tumor HER2 protein suggests that postmenopausal familial breast cancer may be associated with altered HER2 expression.

[Lani]

1/5/07. Haven't heard from her since in follow-up. Kristen????