The Sins of Genes

Today Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women and responsible for 25% of all cancers in women. Telomerase is an appropriate anticancer therapeutic target because it is present in over 90% of human cancers, including more than 95% of breast cancers, while in most somatic cells it is not detectable. The hTERT protein is a component of the rate-limiting telomerase complex, so the expression of the hTERT gene inside the cells is essential for the activation of telomerase. miRNAs are a bunch of small, non-coding RNAs with a length of 25-19 nucleotides that play a key role as gene expression regulators.Some genetic susceptibility may play a minor role in most cases. Overall, however, genetics is believed to be the primary cause of 5-10% of all cases.Women whose mother was diagnosed before 50 have an increased risk of 1.7 and those whose mother was diagnosed at age 50 or after has an increased risk of 1.4. In those with zero, one or two affected relatives, the risk of breastcancer before the age of 80 is 7.8%, 13.3%, and 21.1% with a subsequent mortality from the disease of 2.3%, 4.2%, and 7.6% respectively.