Most cases of breast and prostate cancer are not associated with mutations in known high-penetrance genes, indicating the involvement of multiple low-penetrance risk alleles. Studies that have attempted to identify these genes have met with limited success. The National Cancer Institute Breast and Prostate Cancer Cohort Consortium--a pooled analysis of multiple large cohort studies with a total of more than 5,000 cases of breast cancer and 8,000 cases of prostate cancer--was therefore initiated. The goal of this consortium is to characterize variations in approximately 50 genes that mediate two pathways that are associated with these cancers--the steroid-hormone metabolism pathway and the insulin-like growth factor signalling pathway--and to associate these variations with cancer risk.

A 40 year old woman comes to you after she was found to have a reading of 2+ on a dipstick proteinuria test at an insurance company medical examination. She is fit and well with no major medical history or family history of illness. She has no urinary symptoms and no oedema. She is not pregnant.

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