BRCA genes raise breast cancer risk for men too

BRCA genes raise breast cancer risk for men too
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Mutations in the BRCA1 andBRCA2 genes that increase the risk of breast cancer for womenalso do the same in men.
Men can develop breast cancer, although they account foronly about 1 percent of breast cancer cases. Previous studieshave shown that men who carry mutations in the BRCA2 gene areat greater risk of developing breast cancer than men in thegeneral population. Now, new research suggests that the same istrue for men with BRCA1 mutations.
Dr. Sining Chen from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine inBaltimore, Maryland, and colleagues studied data on 1,939families that included 97 male patients with breast cancer.
"At all ages, the cumulative risks of male breast cancerwere higher in both BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers than innoncarriers," the researchers report in the Journal of theNational Cancer Institute.
The likelihood of developing breast cancer was highest formen in their 30s and 40s and decreased with increasing age. Forexample, for BRCA2 mutation carriers, 30-year-old men were 22times more likely to develop breast cancer than carriers at 70years of age.
The risk was higher for BRCA2 than BRCA1 mutation carriers.The investigators calculate that, by age 70, the chances ofdeveloping breast cancer are 1.2 percent for male BRCA1mutation carriers and 6.8 percent for men with the BRCA2mutation.
They point out that these estimates of risk are "importantfor determining appropriate risk management strategies" formale members of families with mutations in BRCA1 or BRCA2.
SOURCE: Journal of the National Cancer Institute, December5, 2007.

California Assembly backs healthcare for everyone

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 18 (Xinhua) -- California's lower house has passed the first phase of a plan to extend medical insurance to almost all residents, it was reported on Tuesday.
Under the plan, 14.4 billion dollars will be extended to nearly all residents for medical insurance, the Los Angeles Times said.
The move late Monday gave Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and his Democratic allies their first victory in a risky yearlong campaign to overhaul California's healthcare system, the paper said.
The measure, negotiated by Schwarzenegger and Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuez, would require almost everyone in California to have insurance starting in 2010, according to the paper. It would provide subsidies and tax credits for those who would have trouble paying their share of the premiums.
The plan would bring medical coverage to 3.6 million Californians, including 800,000 children, who currently do not have it. But the plan cannot go into effect unless it passes the state Senate and voters approve a companion initiative that Schwarzenegger and Nuez are planning to place on the November ballot to finance it.
The measure, which passed the Assembly on a party-line 45-31 vote, was heralded as an important step not only for California but for a national Democratic effort to enact a similar plan for the entire country.
"California has taken a giant step forward today on something that many people thought could not be done," Schwarzenegger said. "With the Assembly's courageous vote . . . we are closer than ever to fixing our broken healthcare system."
But the measure faces a more skeptical reception in the Senate, where Democratic leaders are asking whether it makes sense to adopt such a giant change at a time when California has a projected 14 billion-dollar budget gap.