Often, when doctors and experts talk about breast cancer, ovarian cancer or prostate cancer, they also name the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes and their possible influence in the carcinogenic process.
But what exactly are BRCA1 and BRCA2?
BRCA1 and BRCA2 are two tumor suppressor genes . Tumor suppressor genes (or tumor suppressors ) play a fundamental role within the cell and the entire body: they produce proteins capable of repairing damaged DNA and suppressing the uncontrolled cellular proliferation typical of cancer cells. In other words, they are control systems that are activated when they reveal an anomaly in cellular DNA.
A mutation of a tumor suppressor gene is deleterious to the affected cell (s): a situation of this kind, in fact, increases the probability that malignant neoplastic processes will occur.
Mutations in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes may be inherited from one of the parents or develop by chance in the course of life.
According to several studies, those who inherit it are more likely - compared to the normal population or who develop the same mutations during their lifetime - to fall ill prematurely of a malignant neoplasm of the breast, ovaries, prostate or pancreas.
