Dr. Nagendran on Family History, BRCA Status, and Risk

Sukumar Nagendran, MD, vice president, medical affairs, Quest Diagnostics, discusses a study looking at patients’ family history, BRCA mutation status, and breast cancer risk.

This study found that patients who have tested negative for BRCA2 but have a strong family history of breast cancer still have an increased risk of breast cancer.

Nagendran wonders if there are other single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within family members that have not been identified, if the patients in this study were affected by an environmental factor, and if these patients should have additional screening (such as MRI) of their breast.

Nagendran says further research is needed in this area.