#brca2

Obesity-Cancer Link

A person carrying a mutation in either of the tumour suppressor proteins BRCA1 or BRCA2 is at increased risk of developing breast cancer. So too are people with obesity and diabetes. But whether obesity could exacerbate the risk in people with BRCA mutations was unknown. Recent research suggests that indeed metabolic and genetic risk can be cumulative. The image shows nuclei (blue) of milk duct cells from a person with a BRCA mutation with evidence of DNA damage shown in red. A study of such cells revealed the extent of DNA damage in BRCA mutation carriers positively correlated with body mass index. And blocking obesity related hormone signals in these cells could lessen such damage. The new findings suggest that while maintaining a low body weight is no guarantee of preventing breast cancer, addressing lifestyle, diet and metabolic health may be especially important for people already at increased genetic risk.

Written by Ruth Williams

Image from work by Priya Bhardwaj and colleagues

Department of Medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA

Image copyright held by the original authors

Research published in Science Translational Medicine, February 2023

Genetic testing detects BRCA gene mutations in individuals with high risk of breast cancer which helps the patient in taking informed medical decisions.

#BRCA #BRCA1andBRCA2genes #genetictesting #Breastcancer

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This definitely has been my worst year ever. I finally got diagnosed with fibromyalgia, which was a blessing and a curse. Being diagnosed with fibro isn’t anything I would even want my enemies to go through, but having an answer and now a direction to work in, is helpful. I am not running blind. Just as I got into a pain clinic and started new treatments for my fibromyalgia I got diagnosed with breast cancer. Than to top that off, I found out I carry the BRCA2 gene. Instead of doing a lumpectomy and radiation I went for the bilateral mastectomy and reconstruction. Which turned out to be a good thing because the cancer in my left breast nearly doubled in size in a month. My right breast had cancer in it that wasn’t there a month ago on the MRI.

I read the literature they wanted me to about breast cancer and mastectomies. But the information didn’t come close to what I went through. Of course it doesn’t help I have fibromyalgia that’s gone untreated for 18 years so it’s just out of control and feeds off the pain making it worse and worse. When I first woke up after surgery I was in so much pain. I didn’t know until I woke up if the plastic surgeon was able to put in the implants. He was.

The first 24 hours in the hospital my morphine was being increased .5mg every 30 minutes to try to get the pain under control. The most difficult part was being wrapped up in a tight ace bandage that was putting pressure on every trigger point in my chest. I was able to have the doctor unwrap me and loosen up the bra so it’d put less pressure on my pain points, which helped. What didn’t change was the tight feeling around my chest and like I had two cold stones laying on me.

I was in the hospital for a few days. Besides fibromyalgia I also have a genetic disorder that affects my clotting so the doctors were dealing with that and the itchy rash I was getting from my antibiotics and oral pain meds. Benadryl was added to my log list of medications. Had to take two pills every four hours just to keep my rash from getting out of control.

Leaving the hospital and being driven home seemed like such an ordeal. Had to have a soft pillow against my chest between the seat belt. The warmed seats were a nice treat from the icy cold wind that was going on outside.

It took a couple mire days before my chest stopped feeling cold and plastic like. My chest is still completely numb but I feel a slight tingling in both breasts and the warmth of them lets me know the implants are taking and that I’m healing.

The drains, haven’t even talked about those. I have two drains in, one on each side. They are stitched in to my side but they go up my side and around the top of my chest. At first you couldn’t see the drain under the skin because they were so swollen but now that the draining has slowed down you can see the drains under my skin so my breasts have a weird sucked in appearance to the sides and around the top of them. I was so hoping they would come out yesterday, which was 10 days post op but they were draining too much, still. Fingers crossed for next Tuesday they should come out.

Having the reconstruction done right after the mastectomy has added more pain and healing time. Right now I still can’t lift more than 5 lbs, which also includes pulling, pushing that amount. Plus I can’t raise my hands above my head. I haven’t been able to wash my hair for 11 days! Fallen in love with dry shampoo. I have doctors orders to be a couch potato until the drains are out. I do need to get up and walk a bit bit I have to be careful. I have been taking daily sponge baths which always wears me out but does make me feel better. Today I’m going to try to add washing my hair to my daily chore. Fingers crossed I can figure out a way to do it without raising my hands, causing more pain, or ripping out stitches from moving too much.

As the days go by I am slowly forgetting about how bad my first few days were. How ice cold my breasts felt and how my skin felt likeit was covered in plastic and totally numb. I’m so glad I am healing and when I think about at least 5 mire weeks of being able to do a little bit more, but not much, it seems like forever. But when I look at how far I’ve come in this short time, I know it’ll go by quickly.

When I saw the plastic surgeon yesterday he said my breasts were going to blister and both nipples. I have one blister that’s already healed. I had it right surgery. Because the surgeon uses a cauterizer to remove breast tissue with and decrease as much bleeding as possible, which helps to decrease the chance of cancer spreading, the results are blisters. Right now my nipples are bruised and look mottled. I’m actually quite glad they’re numb because I wouldn’t want to feel all the more pain from the bruising and blistering.

The oncologist surgeon also did a biopsy of my lymph nodes to see if any cancer cells had gotten into them. The biopsy is extremely painful and has quite a large cut. The one side affect of the biopsy is my right arm is way more painful to even move as the pain goes down my arm past my elbow, feels like it’s bruised. The area that is cut under my breasts feel like they were taken in and tightened. It’s a different sensation of tightness than what I have on my breasts.

I think it’ll be interesting how I feel in a week or two from now. It is the holidays and because I’m down and out, we aren’t decorating and I’m not cooking all our favorite holiday cookies and I can’t cook the Christmas family dinner I do every year. We do have family coming in from Dubai so even though I won’t be able to do hardly anything it’ll be nice to be surrounded by family. To me the holidays are about being with family and making memories, not spending a lot of money or items that mean nothing and eventually will be tossed.