Study: Genetics Do Not Significantly Affect Breast Cancer Survival Rate

Breast cancer patients with a genetic predisposition to the disease have survival rates not significantly different from other patients with breast cancer, according to researchers at Helsinki University Central Hospital.

Researchers studied the survival rates of 359 women with familial breast cancer. Thirty two were from families that tested positive for the BRCA1 gene mutation; 43 were from families with the BRCA2 gene mutation; and the rest were from families without either gene mutation.

In their work, published in the International Journal of Cancer, researchers compared the survival rates of their study patients with approximately 60,000 other breast cancer patients.

They found that the 5-year survival rate was 67 percent for patients from BRCA1-positive families, 77 percent from BRCA2-positive families, 86 percent for those with familial breast cancer not related to the two gene mutations, and 78 percent for women whose cancer was not related to heredity, according to the researchers.

Researchers concluded that, after factoring in age, stage of disease and year of diagnosis, there were not significant differences in survival between patients with familial breast cancer and women in the general breast cancer population.

Other Sources:International Journal of Cancer