What is 'Hereditary Breast Cancer'?
Your genes determine more than your blood type and physical features-they may also determine your risk for developing certain diseases, including cancer. Some families have an inherited tendency to develop certain types of cancer. In these families, a change in the genetic material (called as a germ-line mutation ) , or DNA, predisposes those who carry it, to developing cancer. This germ-line genetic mutation may be passed down from parent to child.
Several relatives with cancer in a family is often an indication that there may be inherited predisposition to cancer, putting healthy individuals of that family at a 1 in 2 risk of developing certain types of cancers. Cancers in such families typically occur at younger ages than in the general . Sometimes people in these families develop more than one cancer.