King, colleagues call for population-based BRCA screening

Mary-Claire King, who discovered the breast cancer 1 early onset (BRCA1) gene locus, co-authored a BRCA2 genes should be part of routine medical care for all women ages 30 and older. The viewpoint coincided with the announcement that King, now a professor at the University of Washington, Seattle, was awarded a Lasker prize -- the most prestigious award in American science.

King and colleagues cited a study in which population-based screening of the Ashkenazi Jewish population in Israel found that 50% of families found to harbor BRCA mutations had no history of breast or ovarian cancer that would have triggered clinical attention. The researchers argued that without population-based screening, women with BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations from families without a history of cancer would not have been identified until they developed cancer. ...