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Germ Line Mutation Essay

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A mutation is the act or process of being altered or changed. Mutations are very dangerous to the human body. The good thing is that not all mutations can be inherited. In some cases where a mutation occurs in sperm cells, a mutation can be passed on which often most likely leads to genetic variation. A mutation that is possible to receive is called a germ line mutation.

A table with data on a study investigating BRCA mutations in women diagnosed with breast cancer gathered plenty of information. There were more cases of BRCA1 with 89 patients while BRCA2 had only 35 patients in the year of 2007. 15 more deaths were caused by BRCA1 than by BRCA2. By observing the data on the table it is easy to come to a conclusion that BRCA1 is the more dangerous mutation of the 2 and is more common also. A woman's risk of dying of cancer if she carries a mutated BRC1 gene is surprisingly very high. The percentage of women who die is 18% which …show more content…

The reason why is because usually when women are diagnosed with breast cancer, it runs in the family as it is passed down. It is a gene developed over the years. The data I would need to see in order to draw conclusions about the effectiveness of preventive surgeries is seeing the genetic breakdown of the patients family. I would also need to know how many of their relatives have been affected.

The age of diagnosis tells me that because it is a genetic disease the development of the mutation forms over many years. The graph shows us that women seem to get breast cancer when they are starting to get older. The graph explains the ages of people who got breast cancer and the estimated number of people. I learned that the younger a woman is the less of a chance they have of getting the disease. The highest was ages 50-59 and were at an estimated 75,000 cases. The cases go up from 30-59 and after that the amount of cases dies

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