Article: http://www.mooshee.com/article-2996931.htm
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The chances of developing breast cancer are to some extent inherited, but 
important new findings suggest survival also runs in the family. Research 
published in the online journal Breast Cancer Research suggests that if a 
woman succumbs to breast cancer her daughters or sisters are over 60 percent 
more likely to die within five years if they develop the disease.

Mikael Hartman from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden led an 
international team, identifying 2,787 mother-daughter pairs and 831 sister 
pairs among women with breast cancer diagnosed between 1961 and 2001 from 
Sweden's national Multi-Generation Register.

They found that a woman's breast cancer prognosis predicts the survival of 
her first-degree relatives with breast cancer. Mothers surviving breast 
cancer after five years, had daughters with a 91 percent chance of surviving 
the disease. But only 87 percent of daughters whose mothers had died within 
five years survived. Being sister to a woman who had died of breast cancer 
within five years gave a 70 percent chance of survival from breast cancer, 
whereas chances improved to 88 percent if she had survived. Overall, a poor 
prognosis for a woman gave first-degree relatives a 60-80 percent higher 
chance of breast cancer mortality within the five-year timeframe.

Access to health care in Sweden is good irrespective of socio-economic 
status, so these factors are unlikely to have biased the findings. Women 
with a mother or sister who has had breast cancer are also likely to be more 
aware of the disease, making delays in seeking treatment unlikely. As well 
as genetics, other risk factors such as obesity and hormone replacement 
therapy probably play a role in the incidence and outcome of breast cancer. 
Dr Hartman says the findings are "relevant to women with newly diagnosed 
breast cancer," and to those treating them. The next step will be to 
understand what is inherited; tumor biology, response to therapy or 
vigilance of the immune system.

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