Prevention of genetic breast cancer within reach

About one in eight women will develop invasive breast cancer over the course of her lifetime. Causes can be the use of synthetic sex hormones and other environmental factors, but also gene mutations like in the BRCA1 gene (BReast CAncer). US actress Angelina Jolie who underwent a preventive double mastectomy is the most famous carrier of a “faulty“ BRCA1 gene. On average, women with this mutation have an up to 87% lifetime risk of developing breast cancer. Tumors usually develop early in life. Until now, prophylactic surgery is the only procedure which significantly reduces the breast cancer risk, but which is also often associated with postoperative complications.