I'd always assumed that you tended as a woman to get things from your mothers side (I don't have any idea where I got that assumtion from) As a general rule though I would say to you and every woman to make sure you check often, now days with early detection there is a lot that can be done.

*Goes of to check, cause I never parctise what I preach and I've had a few scares*

I have read that it's from the mother's side also sange. From the various women's magazines that i read (and i've read a few) that if your maternal grandmother, your mother and any maternal aunts have suffered from breast cancer then you're more at risk at getting breast cancer. There's a gene that you can be tested for, I can't remember what it's called, but if you have this gene then you're classed as being in a higher risk group.

But i also agree 10000% with sange on checking yourself regularly because it is early detection that helps save lives

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by Sange
I'd always assumed that you tended as a woman to get things from your mothers side (I don't have any idea where I got that assumtion from)

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Not always the case, men get Haemophilia from the mother's side for example.

(Edited by Havoc 09/01/2004 19:58)

I've just looked in one of my books, 'Human Molecular Genetics' by Peter Sudbery. It states that "mutations in two genes, BRCA1 and BRCA2, have been shown to be responsible for 60-80% of all..." hereditary breast cancer cases. However, these mutations are responsible for only 5-10% of breast cancer cases, and no specific genetic factors have been identified for most cases.

More useful is the part of the book which states that the risk of breast cancer is 2-3 times higher in women who's mother or sister with the disease, with a greater risk if the disease was diagnosed in relatives below the age of 40. The more distant the relatives affected, the lower the risk, so it's quite possible that your risk will not be much more than any other women's.

If your dad's side of the family is large, the number of cases may not indicate a significant risk, particularly if your Gran's and dad's generations do not have any cases. The fact that your Gran was not affected is encouraging, as it might indicate that she did not inherit the risk from her mother, and thus did not pass it down to your father and yourself. But you still may be entitled to more frequent checks, just to make sure.

Cancer's a complicated thing, with both environmental and genetic factors involved. Even infections such as HPV can increase risks. All we can really do is try to live - fairly! - healthily, and go to the doctor's as soon as we notice something odd. I heard that 1/3 of people will be afflicted with cancer at some point, and early diagnosis appears to be the best way of dealing with it.

I hope that this is some help to you, but if you're really worried, it's worth going to see your doctor.

For further information, it might be worth checking out the New Scientist website, or for more technical information, do a search for PubMed, which is an online medical and scientific journal database.

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by Sange
I'd always assumed that you tended as a woman to get things from your mothers side (I don't have any idea where I got that assumtion from)

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by Havoc
(quotes)

Not always the case, men get Haemophilia from the mother's side for example.

(Edited by Havoc 09/01/2004 19:58)

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As a woman, that's not always the case: - because men get haemophilia from their mothers side???

Maybe it's just to early, but does that mean that the men have to be transgender then? Cos she was saying from a woman's perspective, so for her quote to be wrong the man or men in question would have to have had a sex change?????

*Makes note never to read Tangent when he's still asleep

I was pointing out that you mdon't necessarily get things from the parent who is the same gender.

But what you actually stated was that was she said was incorrect, she was speaking from a womans perspective about female hereditary and you introduced about male hereditary. Although the two subjects are naturally closely associated, they arent the same. How men receive, contract or are genetically coded a disease has absolutely no bearing to the statement.

to follow the logic you would argue with the statement that white is white, because blue could be red. Satements that would be mutually exclusive.

Perhaps pointing out the you don't necessarily receive genes from the same gender was what you meant to say, but actually didn't.

Any translations of this script would be most welcome:
Email - TNT@Offtheplanet.com

Little lesson in biology 101.

Woman have 2 X Chrosomes. 1 from mum, 1 from dad

Man have 1 X )from mum) and 1 Y (from dad)

Men get haemophilia from their mothers because it's carried on the X chromosome. the haemophilia gene, though is recessent.

In women, they have an extra, hopefully healthy gene on their other X chromosome, therefor, they are much less likley to sucum to the illness since they have a back up. (it's the same with colour blindness, many more men are colour blind because they dont have the spare gene on their Y chromosome)

So, yes, the X gene your father passed to you can carry the defective material from his mothers side of the family. In fact even men get breast cancer! not often but they do. (about 5% of breast cancer cases are men)

So, be vigilent is my advise. check regularly and if you are worried, you can pay privatly for a mammogram. it used to be about £80 so it's probably £100 or so now.

also, when checking breasta for jumps, check the arm pits and the skin between brast and pit! most people forget that. in the armpits a growth will feel like a dried pea under your skin.

Just an odd comment.....

You usually find that men find a lump in their partners breast before the woman actually does.

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by Teresa
You usually find that men find a lump in their partners breast before the woman actually does.

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Also very true. I guess they pay them a lot more attention than we do. Cant figure out why tho?

I guess I will have to dfo the right thing then and make sure I give Sange a thorough examination!

All in the in the interests of health naturally, I won't derive any pleasure from it whatsoever (well ok I will!)

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by Nutty Bat
More useful is the part of the book which states that the risk of breast cancer is 2-3 times higher in women who's mother or sister with the disease, with a greater risk if the disease was diagnosed in relatives below the age of 40. The more distant the relatives affected, the lower the risk, so it's quite possible that your risk will not be much more than any other women's.

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Thanks for that. My Grandma (dad's mum) and Great Aunt (dad's mum's sister) both had breast cancer. Grandma had a masectomy and survived but Aunt Betty's cancer spread to other parts of her body and she died from it. I did wonder if this would mean I was more likely to get it.