Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By richards on October 13, 2014

As a breast health specialist at West Boca Diagnostic Imaging, it was a natural fit for Dr. Cheryl Moss-Mellman to step into the role as chairwoman for Making Strides Against Breast Cancer South Palm Beach.

The American Cancer Society's walk takes place at 8:30 a.m. Oct. 25 from the city's Mizner Park Amphitheater. West Boca Medical Center is a silver sponsor, committing to raise at least $2,500, the hospital's CEO Mitch Feldman announced last month.

Moss-Mellman recently talked about the results of a study on breast and ovarian cancer in Jewish women with an Ashkenazi (French, German or Eastern European) background. The study found they had high rates of these cancers, even when there was no family history. The findings were seen as a call for universal testing of this population.

The study is called "Population-based screening for breast and ovarian cancer risk due to BRCA1 and BRCA2." An abstract was provided by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America: pnas.org/content/111/39/14205.abstract.

Were you surprised by this outcome?

With the Ashkenazi Jewish population, the frequency of being a BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene carrier occurs in one out of 40 women. It's important to look at the individual family. Maybe someone is an only child with no aunts and uncles. Maybe in a small family there are more males. [BRCA1 and BRCA 2 mutations increase the risk of female breast and ovarian cancer, according to the National Cancer Institute].

Why does that make a difference?

The reason we see it in such high frequency is when Jews living in shtetls [Jewish villages] or isolated populations were marrying their cousins. If there is a mutation, once you start intermarrying, that defect in the DNA will reproduce in that population.

Are you already looking for these genes in your practice?

The most important thing is having a thorough view of the family history. That will be your strongest predictor of who has a higher likelihood of having a BRCA mutation. It can be passed down from either side, and I generally try to get at least three generations.

Go here to read the rest:

Making Strides' doctor talks about no family history

Category: Ashkenazi
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