Everyone – both male and female – has two BRCA genes. Identified as BRCA1 and BRCA2, both are tumor suppressor genes associated with breast cancer. (BRCA is an abbreviation for breast cancer, generally pronounced “bracka.”)
Clinical Genetics Service
Even if you already have cancer, you can’t let down your guard when it comes to prevention. In fact, cancer patients have even more reason to be on guard, because they usually have a higher risk for infection or developing other types of cancer.
While most cancers occur sporadically, and are caused by gene changes that happen during your lifetime, approximately 5 to 10% of all cancers are due to an inherited genetic change, called a mutation, to specific genes.