Hey all you people out here that have or are going to do 23andme. everyone should read this, especially all the ladies in the house!
https://mediacenter.23andme.com/pre...ion-direct-consumer-genetic-test-cancer-risk/
"Authorization allows 23andMe to report on BRCA1- and BRCA2-related genetic risk for breast, ovarian and prostate cancer"
not from this article, but important information for your edification:
1. Breast cancer: About 12% of women in the general population will develop breast cancer sometime during their lives. By contrast, a recent large study estimated that about 72% of women who inherit a harmful BRCA1 mutation and about 69% of women who inherit a harmful BRCA2 mutation will develop breast cancer by the age of 80.
2. Harmful mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2 increase the risk of several cancers in addition to breast and ovarian cancer. These include fallopian tube cancer and peritoneal cancer. Men with BRCA2 mutations, and to a lesser extent BRCA1 mutations, are also at increased risk of breast cancer and prostate cancer. Both men and women with harmful BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations are at increased risk of pancreatic cancer.
Positive result. A positive test result indicates that a person has inherited a known harmful mutation in BRCA1 or BRCA2 and, therefore, has an increased risk of developing certain cancers. However, a positive test result cannot tell whether or when an individual will actually develop cancer. Some women who inherit a harmful BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation never develop breast or ovarian cancer.
A positive test result may also have important implications for family members, including future generations.
Both men and women who inherit a harmful BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation, whether or not they develop cancer themselves, may pass the mutation on to their sons and daughters. Each child has a 50% chance of inheriting a parent’s mutation.
If a person learns that he or she has inherited a harmful BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation, this will mean that each of his or her full siblings has a 50% chance of having inherited the mutation as well.
Negative result. A negative test result can be more difficult to understand than a positive result because what the result means depends in part on an individual’s family history of cancer and whether a BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation has been identified in a blood relative.
If a close (first- or second-degree) relative of the tested person is known to carry a harmful BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation, a negative test result is clear: it means that person does not carry the harmful mutation that is responsible for their family’s cancer risk, and thus cannot pass it on to their children. Such a test result is called a true negative. A person with such a test result is currently thought to have the same risk of cancer as someone in the general population.