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Medical Forum / Diseases and Disorders / Breast Cancer / March 2007

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Are there Genetic Markers for ER+ and HER-2 Neu Positive Women?

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Bea Oo - 18 Mar 2007 16:33 GMT
Does anyone know if there are any tests which can signify which women
are ER+ and/or HER-2 Positive for possible bc in their future?

I ask this question because that is what the diagnosis of my bc was and
I had taken Premarin for about 14 years before I was diagnosed with bc.
If they had know estrogen could possibly be the cause of bc, I wonder if
it could have been prevented if I had not taken the Premarin for so many
years?  I am now on Arimidex due to the type of bc it was.

One other concern I have is that my daughter was just given oral
contraceptives which the gyn says does not have as many bad side effects
as some others.  My daughter did not tell the gyn the type of bc I had
and now I am real concerned for her.  Are there ANY oral contraceptives
safe for someone to take if they have a mother who was diagnosed with
ER+ bc?  

I don't know how much they really understand about the different types
of bc and how they can interact with other family members.  If anyone
knows of a website where I can get more info, I would appreciate your
help so I can ease my concern for my daughter.

Thanks so much for any information you can provide.

Bea

'NO FORWARDS OR SPAM, PLEASE"
Tim Jackson - 18 Mar 2007 23:11 GMT
> Does anyone know if there are any tests which can signify which women
> are ER+ and/or HER-2 Positive for possible bc in their future?
[quoted text clipped - 16 lines]
> knows of a website where I can get more info, I would appreciate your
> help so I can ease my concern for my daughter.

Only a crystal ball!  It is rather like asking on which road you are
going to get hit by a bus.  It's not the women who are ER+ or HER2+,
these are characteristics of the particular mutations that occurred to
cause the particular cancer.

There is no single test that can a.ses the overall risk factor for any
cancer.  All you can do is examine all the major risk factors (genetic
markers, family history, race, BMI, etc) and if one or a combination
suggests you are at unusual risk, then take appropriate action such as
avoiding estrogen in foods or medications or from obesity.

I don't think your particular cancer necessarily indicates much of an
increased risk for your daughter - as your risk was elevated by the use
of HRT (although of course the risk was not known at the time), then the
fact that you got it is not so indicative of a genetic predisposition as
it otherwise would be.  If *your* mother or sister also had bc, then
that would be more significant.

Web sites that might help you: on general risk factors,
  www.imaginis.com/breasthealth/bc_risks.asp
and on the oral contraceptives link in particular
  www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Risk/oral-contraceptives

In general try a Google query structured like
  "breast cancer" "oral contraceptive"
(that's all one line, and include the quote marks so it only looks for
the exact phrases, not all the words independently) which will find you
several more sites.

Tim
Bea Oo - 19 Mar 2007 04:01 GMT
>In general try a Google query structured like  
> "breast cancer" "oral contraceptive"
>(that's all one line, and include the quote
> marks so it only looks for the exact phrases,
> not all the words independently) which will
> find you several more sites.

>Tim  

Thanks so much (as usual) for the info and those two great sites you
included , Tim.  They are just what I was looking for to help me
understand this concern.    I guess like anything else, bc can really be
"a roll of the dice".  Probably thousands of women take Premarin and
never get cancer from it.  One just has to be in the "wrong place at the
riight time" as they say.  

Much appreciation for sharing your medical knowledge about this subject
with me.  

Bea

'NO FORWARDS OR SPAM, PLEASE"
 
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