Breastcancer is the most common type of cancer. About 5-10% of all breast cancers areinherited. Mutations in the breast cancer 1 (BRCA1) gene greatly increase therisk of developing breast and ovarian cancer. This gene is found on chromosome17 and is normally responsible for DNA repair. It is therefore called a tumoursuppressor gene. Mutations in BRCA1 are dominant and so the presence of onecopy of a mutated form can cause an increased risk of cancer.
This experiment will test DNA of members of a family where the grandmother (generation 2) and her daughter(generation 3) both died of breast cancer. The deceased women had a mutation intheir BRCA1 gene.
Each kit included enough DNA, agarose gel, electrophoesis buffer and DNA stain for up to 8 groups of students (8 gels). All you need is a horizontal electrophoresis system, power supply and pipettes, all available from Cleaver Scientific
