Mutation of the Angelina Jolie gene, or of a BRCA genes, will be given a lower ovary and breast cancer risk threshold. A spike in the number of ovary removal surgeries is expected in association with this development relating to the Angelina Jolie gene.
Angelina Jolie was famously associated with the BRCA gene when she was found to have BRCA 1 gene mutation. E! New reports that BRCA gene mutation put Jolie at 87 percent risk of developing breast cancer and as serious a risk of developing ovarian cancer.
Angelina Jolie underwent preventive double mastectomy in 2013 in response to the findings, having lost eight of her family members to cancer. Two years after, Angelina Jolie pushed ahead with having her ovaries and fallopian tubes surgically removed and BRCA gene mutation was subsequently named after the Hollywood celebrity.
The BRCA genes suppress growth of tumors in the body. Mutation of either the BRCA 1 gene or the BRCA 2 gene increases the risk of these growths, more so than the risks in women who have no mutation in their Angelina Jolie gene.
The Daily Mail reports that although preventive removal of the ovaries and breasts reduces cancer risk for women with the Angelina Jolie gene, the risk threshold in the UK is still high. According to the media outlet, experts are now calling for risk threshold to be reduced from 10 percent to 4 percent.
If this is approved, more women found to have the Angelina Jolie gene will be eligible for surgery. As it is, experts believe that thousands of women over 40 years of age, and considering gene testing along with family history, should undergo ovary removal surgery to prevent cancer.
However, these women are unable to do so because of the high risk threshold. In the UK, ovarian cancer has been found as the fifth most common cancer.
