A report has found that BREAST CANCER is affecting Bahamian women at the highest levels in the world. Researchers are holding out hope, however, and are steadily working towards their goal to make genetic testing more accessible to high-risk Bahamian women.
The highest prevalence of the BRCA1 gene mutation, out of any population in the world, is found in Bahamian women – which put them at greater risk of breast cancer.
Findings on the prevalence rate of the hereditary bad gene were announced last year.
Since then, the Bahamas Breast Cancer Initiative Foundation (BBCIF) has been working steadily to facilitate further research and prevention strategies.
Securing a genetic counsellor and data-base coordinator is paramount to this initiative as it would allow lead researchers in the study, Dr Steven Narod, of Toronto University, and Dr John Lunn, Medical Director of the BBCIF, to undertake critical follow-up projects.
Priority objectives call for in-depth study of breast cancer presentation and treatment in the country; the frequency of BRCA1 mutations; the effectiveness of standard chemotherapy. Further studies will also seek to identify risk factors for the development of breast and ovarian cancer in women with the BRCA1 mutation and identify new breast cancer genes for Bahamian women.
So convinced of the project’s value, and the potential for important discoveries, Dr Narod has committed 15 per cent of his time to the endeavour free of charge.
Aggressive strains of breast cancer appear in Bahamian women at an unusually early age. According to published reports, only 12 per cent of American women under 44 years old are diagnosed with breast cancer, while 34 percent of Bahamian women are diagnosed at that age or younger.
The high prevalence of one of five BRCA1 mutations, which is a breast cancer susceptible gene, means the Bahamas is an abnormally high risk population.
According to Dr Steven Narod, who collaborated in the study, the global average is five to six per cent: 20 per cent of the Bahamian sample tested positive for the abnormal gene.
In an earlier interview with The Tribune, Dr Lunn said: “The next study we’re going to do is to measure the genetic composition of people who go for screening mammograms. “That would tell us the frequency of the gene in the non-affected population, people who don’t have breast cancer, that’s important to know.
“It’s important to know whether or not you have a genetic predisposition, then we can see how if we can stop this gene from becoming active – that’s the next step – but at least you can identify patients very early who are high risk and then you can prevent them from getting breast cancer, that’s the idea.
“It’s a big factor, when a quarter of your patients with breast cancer have a nasty gene that’s huge,” he said.
