However, sometimes a person's family history of cancer may place an individual at increased risk of developing certain cancers. Certain cancers at a young age is one particular clue that there might be a family, or hereditary, cancer running through the family. Clusters of cancers may also suggest a cancer family syndrome. A cancer family syndrome is present when several family members have the same type of cancer or a cluster of specific forms of cancer. These may be due to predisposing genes that can be passed on through the family.
Breast cancer is one of the most common forms of cancer in women in the United States.
Approximately one out of every 8 American women will get breast cancer. Therefore, it is not uncommon to see more than one individual with breast cancer in a family, and to see even more in large families. The breast cancer itself is not inherited, but the increased predisposition to breast cancer can be. If the cases of breast cancer in the family are due to a gene change in either of two genes, ovarian cancer can also be seen in the family. Genes are our bodies' instructions on how to develop and how to function.