C-ANCER
Breast
Cancer
13 Nov 2020
Matt Ridley in Chapter 17 of his 1999 boom "Genome:The Authobiography of A Species in 23 Chapters" (New York, Harper Colins Publishers) write the flowing:
"People who are especilly susceptible to certain cancers often carry mutations in 'mutator' genes, which encourage mutations generally (the breast cancer genes BRCA1 and BRCA2, are probably breast-specific mutators genes), or because they already carry one faulty version of a tumour suppressor gene." (p.236)
On June 15, 2013 Sara Reardon interviewed Dr. Mary Clair King. This interview was entitled "I Discovered the BRCA1 Gene" and published in the SLATE magazine "slate.com".
Source:
June 17,
2013:
Sara
Reardon:
Mary Clair
King:
"Clair King.
This
interview
was entitled
"I
Discovered
the
BRCA1
Gene"
Mary-Claire
King
Courtesy of
Wikipedia
Sara Reardon (S.R.) writes:
"Mary-Claire King, the geneticist who discovered the BRCA1 gene, says she is delighted by the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that makes it illegal to patent it."
"Her work inspired the forthcoming film Decoding Annie Parker, in which she is portrayed by Helen Hunt."
Source:
June 17,
2013:
Sara
Reardon:
Mary Clair
King:
"Clair King.
This
interview
was entitled
"I
Discovered
the
BRCA1
Gene"
"Professor Mary King says:
"Most breast cancer isn’t inherited, but when it is, it’s devastating."
Professor Mary Clair King explains:
"Today there is the recognition that even if a disease is genetic in most people, the particular mutation that any one affected person carries is likely to be rare."
Source:
June 17,
2013:
Sara
Reardon:
Mary Clair
King:
"Clair King.
This
interview
was entitled
"I
Discovered
the
BRCA1
Gene"
The interviewer, Sara Reardom (SR) asks Dr. Mary King (MK): "What does the test name BROCA stand for?"
Professor King responds:
"It is named for the 19th-century French surgeon and pathologist Pierre Paul Broca, who was the first to describe inherited breast cancer in families in a systematic way."
"Based on his work," explains Dr. King, "we are currently trying to trace the relatives of these families from the 1860s to see if they have BRCA1 or BRCA2."
Source:
June 17,
2013:
Sara
Reardon:
Mary Clair
King:
"Clair King.
This
interview
was entitled
"I
Discovered
the
BRCA1
Gene"
The interviewer asks, "So each patient may carry a different mutation in a different cancer gene—and we now know of dozens of such genes. How can you look at all of these in detail? It seems a tall order."
Professor King answers:
"The BROCA test uses technology we have developed with next-generation sequencing that identifies all classes of mutations in all known breast and ovarian cancer genes in one tube."
"It’s a single test that’s much cheaper to run than commercial testing. And we want to make it available as widely as possible," Dr. King adds.
The interviewer asks:
"Today, of course, cancer genetics is a booming field. Is that thanks to the BRCA genes?"
Professor King responds:
"I think it increased interest enormously. It confirmed the idea of inherited predisposition to cancer."
"My work," says Dr. King, "showed that one could use the tools of genetic analysis to prove the existence of genes responsible for an inherited form of a major common disease and that you can parse out the inherited portion."
Source:
June 17,
2013:
Sara
Reardon:
Mary Clair
King:
"Clair King.
This
interview
was entitled
"I
Discovered
the
BRCA1
Gene"
The October 28, 2013 issue of the Washington Post published an article entitled "As Helen Hunt plays her in a movie, the real Mary-Claire King still studies breast cancer" written by Emily Wax-Thibodeaux.
The author writes:
"Scientist Mary-Claire King discovered the BRCA1 gene, which is responsible for some breast and ovarian cancers."
The writer addresses, "As Helen Hunt plays her in a movie, the real Mary-Claire King still studies breast cancer."
"Decoding Annie Parker,” a film starring Helen Hunt, weaves the emotional story of a family stalked by breast cancer with the riveting scientific investigation to find a genetic link to the disease."
"The film combines a fictionalized account of Annie Parker’s obsession with her family’s breast cancer history with the true tale of Mary-Claire King, then a young scientist at the University of California at Berkeley."
Source:
As Helen Hunt
plays her
in a movie,
the real
Mary-Claire
King
still
studies
breast
cancer
Emily Wax-Thibodeaux (the author) points out, "The geneticist and the Canadian cancer survivor were thousands of miles away but were both on personal missions to discover the genetic roots of breast and ovarian cancer at a time when the idea that the disease might be inherited was dismissed."
"King’s 1990 finding — that a single gene on chromosome 17, later known as BRCA1, was responsible for some breast and ovarian cancers — is considered one of the most important medical discoveries of our time. She has won numerous honors for her achievements in human genetics," adds the aurhor.
The writer notes, "Now 67 and a professor of medicine and genome sciences at the University of Washington, King has been developing genomic technology called BROCA for testing for many genes responsible for inherited breast and ovarian cancer." (BROCA is not patented.)
Source:
As Helen Hunt
plays her
in a movie,
the real
Mary-Claire
King
still
studies
breast
cancer
On MAY 30, 2017 the website "nfcr.org" published an article entitled "The Pioneering Gene Work of Dr. Mary-Claire King" written by
ROBYN STOLLER.
The author writes about Mary Clair King with the following words:
"Her discovery of the BRCA1 demonstrated that breast and ovarian cancers have a heredity component and proved that gene mutations could predict vulnerability to the disease."
The writer addresses, "This discovery and the approach she developed to identify this cancer gene has revolutionized the study of cancer genomics and has paved the way to determine if other diseases could also be inherited."
Source:
WOMEN
IN SCIENCE:
MARY-CLAIRE
KING
The author notes, "Inherited genetic defects (called mutations) are passed on from a parent and play a major role in about 5 to 10% of all cancers."
The writer addresses, "The approach that Dr. King developed to identify BRCA1 has since linked other mutations in specific genes with more than 50 heredity cancer syndromes or disorders that may predispose individuals to developing certain cancers."
Source:
WOMEN
IN SCIENCE:
MARY-CLAIRE
KING
Robyn Stoller (the author) writes:
/>
"In the 1970’s, very little was known about the causes of cancer. The idea that cancer was fundamentally a genetic disease was not widely accepted."
"However, early-onset breast and ovarian cancers seemed to disproportionately affect certain families," adds the writer.
The author explains, "With a background in genetics and a personal connection to cancer (Dr. King lost her best childhood friend to cancer), Dr. King began a mission to determine if breast cancer could be inherited genetically and if a specific gene mutation could be the culprit."
According to the author's information,
"Dr. King’s discoveries represent a fundamental step in the understanding of cancer and have changed the face of cancer prevention, screening, diagnosis and treatment."
Source:
WOMEN
IN SCIENCE:
MARY-CLAIRE
KING
Robyn Stoller (the author) adds, "Subsequent studies have shown that the risks of breast and ovarian cancer among women with BRCA1 mutations are very high, up to a lifetime risk of 80% for breast cancer and greater than 40% lifetime risk for ovarian cancer."
"These results," writes the author, "were first met with skepticism as was her discovery ofBRCA1, but are now widely accepted in oncology practice today."
The writer informs:
"Today, we also now know that the BRCA genes are linked to increased risk of developing for fallopian tube cancer, peritoneal cancer, male breast cancer, prostate cancer and pancreatic cancer."
Women
in science:
Mary-Claire
King
The author goes on to address, "Because of Dr. King’s early work, people with BRCA gene mutations can be identified, monitored and counseled to better understand and manage their cancer risk."
On 27 Feb 2017, Ellen Elliot, PhD published an article entiled "WOMEN IN SCIENCE: MARY-CLAIRE KING" in the website of JAX HOME "jax.org".
In one part of her article, the author writes, " In the early 1980s, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) was surveying women across the United States as part of a large study to determine the effects of birth control pills in the development of breasovarian, and uterine cancer."
The writer adds, "King’s group mapped the breast cancer gene using linkage disequilibrium analysis, which involves isolating polymorphisms in DNA sequences that are shared among individuals with the same phenotype."
Women
in science:
Mary-Claire
King
The author explains, "They built on data collected by NCI used in their previous study."
"It took 17 years, but they located the gene," writes the writer.
The author addresses, "In 1990 King’s lab published the landmark paper in Science, which identified the breast cancer gene BRCA1 on chromosome 17."
/>
Women
in science:
Mary-Claire
King
Feb 9,
2015:
"A Never-Ending
Genetic
Quest" by
Claudia
Dreifus
Matt Ridley in chapter 13 of his 1999 book "Genome: The Biography of A Species in 23 Chapters" notes:
"BRCA2 was the second 'breast cancer gene' to be discovered, in 1994."(p.190)
The writer adds, "People with a certain fairly rare version of BRCA2 were fund to be more likely to develop breast cancer than is usually the case." (p.190)
"The gene was first located by studying Icelandic families with a high incidence of breast cancer," explains the author.(p.190)
A 2003 Time Book entitled "A to Z Health Guide, How to Live Better-and Longer" was published (New York, Time Books).
The information in this Time Book (Health Guide) addresses the development of the breast cancer:
"Most breast cancers begin in the milk ducts, narrow passageways that rediate throughout the breast."(p.21)
According to the information of the Health Guide (Time Books, 2003), "A few cells, for reasons we don't yet understand, start to accumulate genetic mistakes that cause them to grow abnormally." (p.21)
"Eventually the cells develop," the information of the book says, "into a ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), a growth that is variously described as either an early-stage breast cancer or a precancerous lesion." (p.21)
The information in the Health Guide (From A to Z) cintinues, "Ar this point, DCIS cellsvhaven't spread beyond the milk duct;however, they are malignant." (p.21)
According to the information of this book, "After a tumor starts to break out of its milk duct, it's often still quite small." (p.21)
"Once the cancer puts down roots in the lymph nodes, the prognosis gets worse," the book's information says.(p.21)
The Time Books (New York)in its 2003 special reference edition informs:
"The lymph nodes act as carrier system for many types of toxins and wastes."(p.21)
According to the information of the book (Time's Health Guide From A to Z):
"Tumors growing in the lymph nodes have a greater chance of migrating to the bones, brain, lungs or other parts of the body, where they can seed the new growths we call metastases."(p.21)
The information (Health Guide From A to Z, Time Books, 2003) says, "Doctors used to think that any breast cancer that had spread to the lymph nodes must have been growing for a long time." (p.21)
"Now they realize that the fact that the cancer has shown up in the lymph nodes may have to do with how aggressive it was from the start rather than with the length of time it has been growing." (pp. 21,23)
The Time Health Guide (2003) in the part of the book entitled "Anatomy of a Tumor" addresses:
"Every breast cancer is a little different, but many follow a fairly standard course."
"How each is treated," the health guide says, "depends on how early it is discovered, how aggressively it is spreading and how it responds to antihormone treatments and other drugs."(p.22)
In September 1988 Richard M. Restak, an American neurologist, neuropsychiatrist published a book titled "The Mind".
In chapter 5 of this book tited "Pain Healing" it reads:
"Dr. Martin Stein and his colleagues at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York have looked at what happens to the immune system of husbands who grieve after the death of their wives from advanced breast cancer.(p.152)
The author writes:
"They (i.e. Dr. Martin Stein and his colleagues) found that the ability of their lymphocytes to respond to an invader such as a bacterium or a virus decreased dramatically within a month ir two of the death of their wives."(p. 152)
King
Wikipedia
Sara Reardon (S.R.) writes:
"Mary-Claire King, the geneticist who discovered the BRCA1 gene, says she is delighted by the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that makes it illegal to patent it."
"Her work inspired the forthcoming film Decoding Annie Parker, in which she is portrayed by Helen Hunt."
Source:
June 17,
2013:
Sara
Reardon:
Mary Clair
King:
"Clair King.
This
interview
was entitled
"I
Discovered
the
BRCA1
Gene"
"Professor Mary King says:
"Most breast cancer isn’t inherited, but when it is, it’s devastating."
Professor Mary Clair King explains:
"Today there is the recognition that even if a disease is genetic in most people, the particular mutation that any one affected person carries is likely to be rare."
Source:
June 17,
2013:
Sara
Reardon:
Mary Clair
King:
"Clair King.
This
interview
was entitled
"I
Discovered
the
BRCA1
Gene"
The interviewer, Sara Reardom (SR) asks Dr. Mary King (MK): "What does the test name BROCA stand for?"
Professor King responds:
"It is named for the 19th-century French surgeon and pathologist Pierre Paul Broca, who was the first to describe inherited breast cancer in families in a systematic way."
"Based on his work," explains Dr. King, "we are currently trying to trace the relatives of these families from the 1860s to see if they have BRCA1 or BRCA2."
Source:
June 17,
2013:
Sara
Reardon:
Mary Clair
King:
"Clair King.
This
interview
was entitled
"I
Discovered
the
BRCA1
Gene"
The interviewer asks, "So each patient may carry a different mutation in a different cancer gene—and we now know of dozens of such genes. How can you look at all of these in detail? It seems a tall order."
Professor King answers:
"The BROCA test uses technology we have developed with next-generation sequencing that identifies all classes of mutations in all known breast and ovarian cancer genes in one tube."
"It’s a single test that’s much cheaper to run than commercial testing. And we want to make it available as widely as possible," Dr. King adds.
The interviewer asks:
"Today, of course, cancer genetics is a booming field. Is that thanks to the BRCA genes?"
Professor King responds:
"I think it increased interest enormously. It confirmed the idea of inherited predisposition to cancer."
"My work," says Dr. King, "showed that one could use the tools of genetic analysis to prove the existence of genes responsible for an inherited form of a major common disease and that you can parse out the inherited portion."
Source:
June 17,
2013:
Sara
Reardon:
Mary Clair
King:
"Clair King.
This
interview
was entitled
"I
Discovered
the
BRCA1
Gene"
The October 28, 2013 issue of the Washington Post published an article entitled "As Helen Hunt plays her in a movie, the real Mary-Claire King still studies breast cancer" written by Emily Wax-Thibodeaux.
The author writes:
"Scientist Mary-Claire King discovered the BRCA1 gene, which is responsible for some breast and ovarian cancers."
The writer addresses, "As Helen Hunt plays her in a movie, the real Mary-Claire King still studies breast cancer."
"Decoding Annie Parker,” a film starring Helen Hunt, weaves the emotional story of a family stalked by breast cancer with the riveting scientific investigation to find a genetic link to the disease."
"The film combines a fictionalized account of Annie Parker’s obsession with her family’s breast cancer history with the true tale of Mary-Claire King, then a young scientist at the University of California at Berkeley."
Source:
As Helen Hunt
plays her
in a movie,
the real
Mary-Claire
King
still
studies
breast
cancer
Emily Wax-Thibodeaux (the author) points out, "The geneticist and the Canadian cancer survivor were thousands of miles away but were both on personal missions to discover the genetic roots of breast and ovarian cancer at a time when the idea that the disease might be inherited was dismissed."
"King’s 1990 finding — that a single gene on chromosome 17, later known as BRCA1, was responsible for some breast and ovarian cancers — is considered one of the most important medical discoveries of our time. She has won numerous honors for her achievements in human genetics," adds the aurhor.
The writer notes, "Now 67 and a professor of medicine and genome sciences at the University of Washington, King has been developing genomic technology called BROCA for testing for many genes responsible for inherited breast and ovarian cancer." (BROCA is not patented.)
Source:
As Helen Hunt
plays her
in a movie,
the real
Mary-Claire
King
still
studies
breast
cancer
On MAY 30, 2017 the website "nfcr.org" published an article entitled "The Pioneering Gene Work of Dr. Mary-Claire King" written by
ROBYN STOLLER.
The author writes about Mary Clair King with the following words:
"Her discovery of the BRCA1 demonstrated that breast and ovarian cancers have a heredity component and proved that gene mutations could predict vulnerability to the disease."
The writer addresses, "This discovery and the approach she developed to identify this cancer gene has revolutionized the study of cancer genomics and has paved the way to determine if other diseases could also be inherited."
Source:
WOMEN
IN SCIENCE:
MARY-CLAIRE
KING
The author notes, "Inherited genetic defects (called mutations) are passed on from a parent and play a major role in about 5 to 10% of all cancers."
The writer addresses, "The approach that Dr. King developed to identify BRCA1 has since linked other mutations in specific genes with more than 50 heredity cancer syndromes or disorders that may predispose individuals to developing certain cancers."
Source:
WOMEN
IN SCIENCE:
MARY-CLAIRE
KING
Robyn Stoller (the author) writes:
/>
"In the 1970’s, very little was known about the causes of cancer. The idea that cancer was fundamentally a genetic disease was not widely accepted."
"However, early-onset breast and ovarian cancers seemed to disproportionately affect certain families," adds the writer.
The author explains, "With a background in genetics and a personal connection to cancer (Dr. King lost her best childhood friend to cancer), Dr. King began a mission to determine if breast cancer could be inherited genetically and if a specific gene mutation could be the culprit."
According to the author's information,
"Dr. King’s discoveries represent a fundamental step in the understanding of cancer and have changed the face of cancer prevention, screening, diagnosis and treatment."
Source:
WOMEN
IN SCIENCE:
MARY-CLAIRE
KING
Robyn Stoller (the author) adds, "Subsequent studies have shown that the risks of breast and ovarian cancer among women with BRCA1 mutations are very high, up to a lifetime risk of 80% for breast cancer and greater than 40% lifetime risk for ovarian cancer."
"These results," writes the author, "were first met with skepticism as was her discovery ofBRCA1, but are now widely accepted in oncology practice today."
The writer informs:
"Today, we also now know that the BRCA genes are linked to increased risk of developing for fallopian tube cancer, peritoneal cancer, male breast cancer, prostate cancer and pancreatic cancer."
Women
in science:
Mary-Claire
King
The author goes on to address, "Because of Dr. King’s early work, people with BRCA gene mutations can be identified, monitored and counseled to better understand and manage their cancer risk."
On 27 Feb 2017, Ellen Elliot, PhD published an article entiled "WOMEN IN SCIENCE: MARY-CLAIRE KING" in the website of JAX HOME "jax.org".
In one part of her article, the author writes, " In the early 1980s, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) was surveying women across the United States as part of a large study to determine the effects of birth control pills in the development of breasovarian, and uterine cancer."
The writer adds, "King’s group mapped the breast cancer gene using linkage disequilibrium analysis, which involves isolating polymorphisms in DNA sequences that are shared among individuals with the same phenotype."
Women
in science:
Mary-Claire
King
The author explains, "They built on data collected by NCI used in their previous study."
"It took 17 years, but they located the gene," writes the writer.
The author addresses, "In 1990 King’s lab published the landmark paper in Science, which identified the breast cancer gene BRCA1 on chromosome 17."
/>
Women
in science:
Mary-Claire
King
Feb 9,
2015:
"A Never-Ending
Genetic
Quest" by
Claudia
Dreifus
Matt Ridley in chapter 13 of his 1999 book "Genome: The Biography of A Species in 23 Chapters" notes:
"BRCA2 was the second 'breast cancer gene' to be discovered, in 1994."(p.190)
The writer adds, "People with a certain fairly rare version of BRCA2 were fund to be more likely to develop breast cancer than is usually the case." (p.190)
"The gene was first located by studying Icelandic families with a high incidence of breast cancer," explains the author.(p.190)
A 2003 Time Book entitled "A to Z Health Guide, How to Live Better-and Longer" was published (New York, Time Books).
The information in this Time Book (Health Guide) addresses the development of the breast cancer:
"Most breast cancers begin in the milk ducts, narrow passageways that rediate throughout the breast."(p.21)
According to the information of the Health Guide (Time Books, 2003), "A few cells, for reasons we don't yet understand, start to accumulate genetic mistakes that cause them to grow abnormally." (p.21)
"Eventually the cells develop," the information of the book says, "into a ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), a growth that is variously described as either an early-stage breast cancer or a precancerous lesion." (p.21)
The information in the Health Guide (From A to Z) cintinues, "Ar this point, DCIS cellsvhaven't spread beyond the milk duct;however, they are malignant." (p.21)
According to the information of this book, "After a tumor starts to break out of its milk duct, it's often still quite small." (p.21)
"Once the cancer puts down roots in the lymph nodes, the prognosis gets worse," the book's information says.(p.21)
The Time Books (New York)in its 2003 special reference edition informs:
"The lymph nodes act as carrier system for many types of toxins and wastes."(p.21)
According to the information of the book (Time's Health Guide From A to Z):
"Tumors growing in the lymph nodes have a greater chance of migrating to the bones, brain, lungs or other parts of the body, where they can seed the new growths we call metastases."(p.21)
The information (Health Guide From A to Z, Time Books, 2003) says, "Doctors used to think that any breast cancer that had spread to the lymph nodes must have been growing for a long time." (p.21)
"Now they realize that the fact that the cancer has shown up in the lymph nodes may have to do with how aggressive it was from the start rather than with the length of time it has been growing." (pp. 21,23)
The Time Health Guide (2003) in the part of the book entitled "Anatomy of a Tumor" addresses:
"Every breast cancer is a little different, but many follow a fairly standard course."
"How each is treated," the health guide says, "depends on how early it is discovered, how aggressively it is spreading and how it responds to antihormone treatments and other drugs."(p.22)
In September 1988 Richard M. Restak, an American neurologist, neuropsychiatrist published a book titled "The Mind".
In chapter 5 of this book tited "Pain Healing" it reads:
"Dr. Martin Stein and his colleagues at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York have looked at what happens to the immune system of husbands who grieve after the death of their wives from advanced breast cancer.(p.152)
The author writes:
"They (i.e. Dr. Martin Stein and his colleagues) found that the ability of their lymphocytes to respond to an invader such as a bacterium or a virus decreased dramatically within a month ir two of the death of their wives."(p. 152)
