Research shows no direct link between blue eyes and breast cancer.
About 10 to 15 percent of breast cancer is believed to be caused by alterations in genes, according to a 1999 article published in "American Family Physician." Inherited breast cancer affects certain ethnic populations known for having blue eyes, such as Norwegians, Dutch and Icelanders, but there appears to be no direct link between blue eyes and breast cancer. Australian researchers found that the same gene that results in blue eyes affects breast cancer survival.
Cancer Definition
Cells throughout the body are constantly copying themselves for growth, to repair a damaged cell or to replace a dead cell. A cell can make a mistake in copying its genetic material, and that is known as a mutation. Certain mistakes are cancer, and the cancerous cells then replicate themselves and spread throughout the body.
Random Cancer
In a majority of cancers, these copying mistakes happen randomly. The older a person is, however, the more likely her body will make a mistake in cell replication that leads to cancer.
BRCA1 and BRCA2 Genes
Some people inherit genes that make them more likely to develop cancer sometime in their life. The best known inherited genes for breast cancer are BRCA1 and BRCA2. Women with these genes are 50 percent more likely to develop breast cancer and to do so before the age of 45 years, according to the "American Family Physician" article.
Ethnic Connection
According to the National Cancer Institute, the genes BRCA1 and BRCA2, occur more frequently in certain ethnic populations, such as Norwegians, Dutch, Icelanders and Eastern European Jewish people (or Ashkenazi Jewish people).
Eye Color Research
Researchers at the Queensland Institute of Medical Research (QIMR) in Australia found that a variant of the OCA2 gene offers a person a greater chance of surviving breast cancer. The same gene affects eye and skin color. QIMR researchers reported that although the gene is involved with both breast cancer survival and blue eye color, no other link exists between the two factors.
Risk Assessment
Not everyone who inherits BRCA1 and BRCA2 will develop breast cancer, even though they have a much higher risk of doing so. The general population has about a 12 percent chance of developing breast cancer, but a woman who has a harmful form of the breast cancer mutation has a 60 percent chance, according to the National Cancer Institute.
Tags: breast cancer, BRCA1 BRCA2, blue eyes, breast cancer, more likely, American Family
