Agenda:

3.2.3: Breast Cancer Screening and Prevention

Part I: The Genetics of Breast Cancer

1. Watch the video clip A Family Disease taken from NOVA’s Cracking the Code of Life program, found at:http://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/tdc02.sci.life.gen.familydisease/a-family-disease/ (Links to an external site.).

2. Reflect on what you watched in the video. In Activity 2.1.1, you took a genetic testing survey. Now that you know more about genetic testing, do you feel the same way?

3. Take out Activity 2.1.1: Student Response Sheet. Read through your original answers.

4. In your laboratory journal, write a reflection on whether or not you have changed your mind about any of your answers.

• If you had a chance of having a mutation in either your BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene, would you get tested? Explain your answer in your laboratory journal.
• How is testing for BRCA1 or BRCA2 different from testing for a gene such as the Tay-Sachs gene? Explain your answer in your laboratory journal.

Most cases of breast cancer are not due to BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations. Genetic testing can be very expensive; before testing is done, a pedigree is constructed and the family’s breast and ovarian cancer pattern is analyzed. Cancers can be divided into three categories: sporadic, familial, and hereditary.

5. Go to the GeneticHealth’s website and read the article Hereditary Versus Spontaneous Cancer, found at: http://www.genetichealth.com/G101_Hereditary_vs_Sporadic_Cancer.shtml (Links to an external site.)

6. Take notes on the differences between sporadic, hereditary, and familial cancers in your laboratory journal.

7. Add the information provided about Judy’s family breast cancer occurrence given in the Introduction of this activity to your Smith family tree.

8. Use the notes in your laboratory journal, as well as the information found in the following website, and decide if you believe Judy is likely to have an inherited BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation.

• BreastCancer.org’s “Assessing Your Genetic Risk” found at:http://www.breastcancer.org/risk/genetic/testing/ (Links to an external site.)

9. Answer Conclusion questions 1 and 2.