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Understanding hereditary breast cancer

Hereditary breast cancer is cancer that occurs more frequently in a family than would be expected in the general population.
Cases of breast cancer that occur when there is no family history or only a few case(s) in elderly relatives are known as sporadic breast cancer.

Hereditary breast cancer is different from sporadic breast cancer because:

  • Your family history means that the likelihood of your developing hereditary breast cancer can be estimated.

    • This means that you may be anxious about breast cancer whilst not affected by the disease. Worries can be for yourself or for other members of your family and this can affect many aspects of your life.

  • The increased risk of breast cancer for those with a family history may be caused by inherited factors (genes), or a combination of inherited factors and lifestyle.

    • Having an increased genetic risk can lead to breast cancer developing at an earlier age. This, in turn, can have an impact on raising your family.
    • As scientists discover the genes involved in breast cancer, it is becoming possible to use genetic testing to find the gene changes or mutations in a family that may lead to disease.
    • Knowledge of the differences in genes that can cause breast cancer allows better understanding of the changes that occur in breasts during hereditary breast cancer. This will make it possible to develop targeted treatments to fight the disease more effectively in the future.


Some professionals will use the terms familial breast cancer and hereditary breast cancer to mean slightly different things.

Familial breast cancer can be used to indicate breast cancer that runs in the family without a known cause (meaning it could be related to lifestyle or to inherited factors).

Hereditary breast cancer can be used to indicate breast cancer that has a known genetic cause. This site uses the term hereditary breast cancer to include both of these definitions.

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