[Genetics and cancer: application to the breast]

Various gene systems are involved in events occurring during transformation of a normal cell into a cancer cell. By order of intervention, genes responsible for an increased individual susceptibility to cancer can be distinguished from actual cancer genes, followed by genes involved at other levels of carcinogenesis. 15 to 20% of patients with breast cancer have a first-degree relative affected by the same cancer, although an inherited predisposition to cancer is only established in 4 to 10% of cases. The genetic heterogeneity of familial forms of breast cancer make it difficult to identify susceptibility genes. At the present time, 3 regions of the genome have been implicated in the predisposition to breast cancer in women: the BRCA1 gene, the BRCA2 gene and the TP53 gene. All predisposition genes are able to transmit susceptibility due to a mutation or inherited microdeletion.