Basal-cell carcinoma
Basal-cell cancer is a very common skin cancer. It is much more common in fair-skinned individuals with a family history of basal-cell cancer and increases in incidence closer to the equator or at higher altitude. There are approximately 800,000 new cases yearly in the United States alone. Up to 30% of Caucasians develop basal-cell carcinomas in their lifetime. In Canada, the most common skin cancer is basal-cell carcinoma (as much as one third of all cancer diagnoses), affecting 1 in 7 individuals over a lifetime.
BRCA1
Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide. At diagnosis, almost 70% of persons with NSCLC have locally advanced or metastatic disease. Persons with NSCLC are often treated with therapeutic platinum compounds (e.g. cisplatin, carboplatin or oxaliplatin) that cause inter-strand cross-links in DNA. Among individuals with NSCLC, low expression of "BRCA1" in the primary tumor correlated with improved survival after platinum-containing chemotherapy. This correlation implies that low BRCA1 in cancer, and the consequent low level of DNA repair, causes vulnerability of cancer to treatment by the DNA cross-linking agents. High BRCA1 may protect cancer cells by acting in a pathway that removes the damages in DNA introduced by the platinum drugs. Thus the level of "BRCA1" expression is a potentially important tool for tailoring chemotherapy in lung cancer management.