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Editorial
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Volume 336:1448-1449 May 15, 1997 Number 20
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BRCA Genes — Bookmaking, Fortunetelling, and Medical Care

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The world cheered the discovery of the BRCA1 cancer-susceptibility gene in 19941 and was chilled by its implications. A woman with a strong family history of breast or ovarian cancer, or both, who carries a germ-line mutation of BRCA1 faces roughly an 85 percent lifetime risk of breast cancer and a 60 percent risk of ovarian cancer.2 BRCA2 was then discovered,3 and together these two genes were said to explain most cases of familial breast cancer.

The pressure for the immediate application of these discoveries to clinical care was overwhelming from the outset. The race to discover new genes was . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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Related Letters:

Risk of Breast Cancer in Carriers of BRCA Gene Mutations
Orlando R., Birkmeyer J. D., Welch H. G., Meijer W. J., van Lindert A. C.M., Grann V., Whittemore A. S., Schrag D., Weeks J. C.
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N Engl J Med 1997; 337:787-789, Sep 11, 1997. Correspondence

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