Feature story
This Breast Cancer Gene Is Less Well Known, but Nearly as Dangerous
TUESDAY, August 17, 2021 (The New York Times)—For years, women with breast cancer in their families have been getting tested for mutations in two genes, known as BRCA1 and BRCA2, to determine whether they have a sharply elevated risk of the disease.
Now, doctors are increasingly recommending that anyone who was tested before 2014 go through genetic testing again — to look for a different mutation, one much less widely known.
It’s on a gene called PALB2, and people who have the mutation have almost as great a risk of getting breast cancer as those who have the BRCA mutations. Like the BRCA mutations, this mutation also increases a patient’s risk of ovarian and pancreatic cancer.
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Foundation news
Barbara Grassley, breast cancer survivor: “Just keep on getting checked!”
Barbara Grassley, wife of Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa, is a longtime breast cancer survivor and screening advocate. She is sharing her to story to encourage everyone to get their routine cancer screenings back on the books. Read more.
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