● Close to 1 million people in the United States are estimated to have a BRCA mutation, but less than 10 percent are aware that they have a mutation that increases their risk for cancer.
● Everyone has BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, and anyone can have a BRCA gene mutation, also known as a pathogenic variant.
● There are 20,000 BRCA variants. Variants can be pathogenic, non-pathogenic, or classified as “variants of uncertain significance”. Many individuals carry the BRCA gene mutation and do not develop cancer. However, having the BRCA gene increases an individual’s chance of developing cancer. Research is underway to determine why some individuals develop cancer and some do not.
● Harmful variants in BRCA1 and BRCA2 increase the risk of several additional cancers, such as: breast, ovarian, prostate, pancreatic, and even melanoma.
● Increased lifetime cancer risk with a BRCA mutation:
○ Breast – up to 75%
○ Ovarian – up to 50%
○ Prostate – up to 25%
○ Pancreatic – up to 5%
● Both men and women who inherit a harmful BRCA1 or BRCA2 variant, whether or not they develop cancer themselves, may pass the variant to their children. Each child has a 50% chance of inheriting a parent’s variant.
● All blood relatives of a person who has inherited a harmful BRCA1 or BRCA2 variant are at some increased risk of having the variant themselves. For example, each of that person’s full siblings has a 50% chance of having inherited the variant as well.
● 1 in 200 people across all racial and ethnic groups carry a BRCA genetic mutation.
● 1 in 40 people of Ashkenazi (Eastern European) Jewish ancestry carry a BRCA gene mutation.
