“Genetic Variant May Shield Latinas From Breast Cancer” By Anahad O’Connor
I read “Genetic Variant May Shield Latinas From Breast Cancer” by Anahad O’Connor. This article talked about how Latina women are less likely to get breast cancer than white, black, or asian women are. This is believed to be because of a genetic mutation that is more common in Hispanics than whites, blacks, and asians. One in five Hispanic American women carry the mutation, but only about 1% of white or black American women carry it. Women who have this mutation have breast tissue that is less dense on mammograms. Mammograms are known to play a major role in the risk of breast cancer. This mutation helps to explain why Latinas have had lower rates of breast cancer than other Americans. White Americans have about 3% more chance of getting breast cancer than Hispanic Americans. This mutation might also affect the number of estrogen receptors produced, which shows why the risk of estrogen-receptor negative breast cancer is much lower for women with the mutation. The protected variant is known as single nucleotide polymorphism. Women with this protective variant are 40% less likely to develop breast cancer, and women with two of these protect variants are 80% less likely to develop breast cancer.
This discovery is extremely important for humankind. This could lead to a huge break in the search for a cure for breast cancer. Marc Hurlbert, the executive director of the Avon Foundation Breast Cancer Crusade stated, “If we understand how this is protective, it might help us to develop better treatments for those who do get breast cancer.” If we can learn more about what this mutation is and what it does, then we can learn how to create something to do the same thing as the mutation. This would increase the chance of women surviving breast cancer. Scientists might also learn how to use this mutation to treat women before they get breast cancer. This would decrease the chance of women ever getting breast cancer.
Overall, I believed that this article was written extremely written. One thing I really liked about this article was how it talks about the good and bad sides of discovering the mutation. For example, Dr. Otis W. Brawley, the chief medical officer at the American Cancer Center said, “But keep in mind that some women with this variant still get breast cancer. It might be because they have this variant and something else that cancels it out.” This quote shows that the article is not bias, it shows how this discovery can be good and bad. I also liked how the article talked about many studies conducted and facts to help back up the information given. This shows that the information has a real affect on the human population and can make a difference. One thing I didn’t like about the article is how it talks about many factors involved in breast cancer, but it doesn’t describe exactly what they are. For example, the article talks about estrogen receptors but never says what they do. The article also talks about mammograms, it says that they play a factor in the breast cancer risk, but it doesn’t say what they actually are. In conclusion, I believe that overall this article was really well written by could have included more details about a few things.
Sean Curran 10/22/14
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The review Margo wrote was very interesting. One thing I likes was how Margo seamlessly wove in statistics into her review, instead of just saying stuff in broad terms. A second thing I liked was how she clearly stated how this mutation could be used to help women from getting breast cancer. A final thing I liked was how analyzed the data given to her and drew her own conclusions. One thing I felt she could improve upon was she said this could be both discovery could be both good and bad, but she never gave any evidence supporting how it could be bad. Another thing I felt she could improve upon is describing how deadly breast cancer is, instead of assuming everyone already knows. one thing that stood out to me was how this mutation could help cure one of the worlds most devastating diseases, which there hasn’t been a real cure for yet.
This review on "Genetic Variant May Shield Latinas From Breast Cancer", reviewed by Margot Richards, was a very impressive piece of writing. One aspect of the review I liked was how she emphasized the effect this breakthrough has on humankind, and she inputted a quote to highlight the significance of the new treatment. Another component I liked was how she used statistics and percentages to stress how much this treatment would protect women from getting breast cancer. Margot also gave a good critique of the author, stating how he could have gone into greater depth to describe the factors of breast cancer. One aspect that could be improved was to make the first paragraph more fluid, as she was describing the mutation well but it did not flow very well. A last element which could be improved is that in the critique Margot stated how she liked that the article gave the pros and cons, but in her review she did not mention any cons of the treatment. The reader of the review would not know what she was talking about, as she only talked about the pros. This review is impressive because it does a good job describing what could be a possible step forward in finding a cure for one of the biggest issues in our world: breast cancer.
ReplyDeleteMargot's review of the article "Genetic Variant May Shield Latinas from Breast Cancer", written by Anahad O'Connor, was very well written. She was able to balance out statistical evidence given in the article with more qualitative observations easily, which is very important in informative reports. Margot also clearly explain how the article can effect not just Latinas, or those with breast cancer, but humans as a whole. Additionally, she included a couple quotes from the original article, which added to the reader's total understanding of the topic. Although almost all of her report was extremely well written, there are a few typo mistakes, including where she says, "..this article was written extremely written". Also, even though Margot's method of writing is mostly fluid, there are a couple spots in the first paragraph where the information could have flowed together a little more easily. Despite these minor issues, Margot's report was very well structured. I learned a lot about the possibilities of this mutation helping women with breast cancer, which was very interesting.
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