‘Matlock’ Actress Devin Sidell, 46, Says She ‘Got Very Emotional’ After Learning She Has a BRCA Mutation – New Research Shows the Risk May Extend Beyond Breast and Ovarian Cancer

Sidell told “People” that she became emotional when she received her screening results.

“Even though I assumed I was going to be positive for the BRCA1 mutation, I still cried,” she said. “It was still a shock.”

BRCA1 and BRCA2 normally help regulate cell growth. When mutated, they lose that control, allowing abnormal tissue to grow unchecked.

According to a new study published in ESMO Open, people with pathogenic BRCA1/2 variants face increased risks of thyroid, bladder, skin, and head and neck cancers, in addition to the well‑known breast and ovarian risks.

The study followed 3,489 cancer patients and found:

• BRCA1 carriers had a 10% cumulative risk of thyroid cancer.
• BRCA2 carriers had a 9% cumulative risk of melanoma 8.3% risk of head and neck cancer.
• Bladder cancer risk was also elevated — 12.8% in women and 5.6% in men.
• Risks of pancreatic and prostate cancer were also higher for carriers of the BRCA gene mutation.

WATCH: How do PARP Inhibitors Treat Ovarian Cancer?

Researchers emphasized the need for expanded personalized medicine approaches, including broader surveillance and the use of PARP inhibitors, which are designed to block DNA repair in cancer cells and have shown strong results in patients with BRCA mutations.

“You think about DNA being a double helix, which we all learned about in basic science,” says Dr. Rebecca Arend, Associate Scientist at the University of Alabama, Birmingham.

“If you have a single-strand break, a PARP enzyme is needed to repair that single-strand break. If you have a PARP inhibitor, then you can’t repair that single-strand break. If you have a single-strand break that’s not repaired, that actually leads to a double-strand break.”

Sidell says she chose to share her story to encourage others to understand their own cancer risk through screening and genetic testing.

Her openness follows the path paved by Angelina Jolie, who famously wrote a 2013 New York Times op‑ed disclosing her BRCA1 mutation. Jolie explained that the mutation raised her breast cancer risk to 87% and her ovarian cancer risk to 50%, prompting her to undergo preventive surgeries.

Jolie’s disclosure sparked what became known as the “Angelina Jolie Effect,” leading to a surge in BRCA testing. A Harvard Medical School analysis estimated that her op‑ed alone prompted 4,500 additional BRCA tests in just two weeks, totaling $13.5 million in testing nationwide.

Understanding Genetic Testing

Genetic testing for cancer is usually done in a doctor’s office (either your primary care doctor or an OB-GYN), but a few tests are available for people to purchase commercially.

“It started out with a very narrow field of women and men who were recommended to have it based on certain risk factors, family history of breast cancer, or other cancers, and also ethnic backgrounds,” Dr. Elisa Port, Chief of Breast Surgery at Mount Sinai Health System, tells SurvivorNet.

The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) recommends testing only select patients with risk factors for hereditary breast cancer. These include, but are not limited to, patients who were younger than 45 years old when they were diagnosed with breast cancer, those with a strong family history of this cancer, and those with Ashkenazi Jewish heritage. The American Society of Breast Surgeons (ASBrS) recommends offering genetic testing for all patients diagnosed with breast cancer.

What If You Have the BRCA Gene Mutation?

If you discover that you do have a mutation, there are options available to manage your cancer risk, which include enhanced screenings; prophylactic (risk-reducing) surgery, which involves removing as much of the “at-risk” tissue as possible; and chemoprevention, the use of medicines to reduce the risk of cancer.

WATCH: Understanding the BRCA Gene Mutation

If you do discover you have ovarian cancer, it actually can be advantageous to have a BRCA mutation, as long as you are being treated with a PARP inhibitor, a drug therapy that was developed and approved by the FDA beginning in 2014. PARP inhibitors work by blocking the protein PARP from repairing the damaged DNA that can lead to cancer. These inhibitors kill the dangerous cells but leave the healthy ones intact, which is exactly what you want to happen.

What to Consider When Weighing Preventive Mastectomy?

Sidell chose to reduce her cancer risk once learning she was a carrier of the BRCA gene mutation and received a preventative mastectomy.
A prophylactic, or preventative, mastectomy is an operation where the breast tissue is removed to prevent cancer from developing in the future.

“Risk-reducing mastectomies are an operation where we take women at, usually, very high risk for getting breast cancer, for genetic mutation carriers, who are the ones at the highest risk; there’s unfortunately only one way to actually prevent breast cancer,” Dr. Port tells SurvivorNet.

WATCH: What to Consider When Thinking About a Mastectomy

“Women who are found to test positive for a genetic mutation really have two options,” Dr. Port explains. “One is what’s called high-risk surveillance, which means we check them every six months or so, mammograms, MRIs, with the hope that if God forbid, they develop breast cancer, we pick it up early. But that’s not prevention; it’s early detection.

“Early detection is a goal; it’s not a guarantee. For the woman who wants to be more proactive about actually preventing breast cancer, or as we say, reducing her risk, unfortunately, the only way to do that is to remove the actual tissue at risk, and that is the breast tissue,” she adds.

Some women decide to have their breasts reconstructed and have implants put in right after the mastectomy, while others don’t have reconstruction at all.

The benefits of a prophylactic or preventative surgery are:

• Significant reduction in cancer risk (from 80-90% to 1-2%)
• Nipples can often be spared
• Women can get reconstruction at the same time

 

Breast Cancer Symptoms & Self-Exams

Women are encouraged to do regular self-exams to become familiar with how their breasts feel normally, so when something unusual, like a lump, does form, it can be easily detected. A self-exam includes pressing your fingertips along your breast in a circular motion.

For some women, that means going to their doctor and walking through what a self-breast exam looks like, so they know what normal breast tissue feels like, so if they do feel something abnormal, whether it’s a lump or discharge from the nipple, they know what to ask and what to look for.

Below are common symptoms to look out for:

• New lump in the breast or underarm (armpit)
• Any change in the size or shape of the breast
• Swelling of all or part of the breast
• Skin dimpling or peeling
• Breast or nipple pain
• Nipple turning inward
• Redness or scaliness of the breast or nipple skin
• Nipple discharge (not associated with breastfeeding

When to Screen for Breast Cancer

The medical community has a broad consensus that women should have annual mammograms between the ages of 45 and 54. However, an independent panel of experts called the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) is saying that women should now start getting mammograms every other year at the age of 40, suggesting that this lowered age for breast cancer screening could save 19% more lives.

The American Cancer Society recommends getting a mammogram every other year for women 55 and older. However, women in this age group who want added reassurance can still get annual mammograms.

WATCH: When you’re getting a mammogram, ask about dense breasts.

Women with a strong family history of breast cancer, a genetic mutation known to increase the risk of breast cancer, such as a BRCA gene mutation, or a medical history, including chest radiation therapy before the age of 30, are considered at higher risk for breast cancer.

Experiencing menstruation at an early age (before 12) or having dense breasts can also put you into a high-risk category. If you are at a higher risk of developing breast cancer, you should begin screening earlier.

Questions For Your Doctor

• What stage is my cancer, and how does that affect my treatment plan?
• What are the recommended chemotherapy options for triple-negative breast cancer, and what side effects should I expect?
• Are there any clinical trials or emerging treatments I should consider?
• How will treatment affect my fertility, physical activity, or ability to work?
• What follow-up care and monitoring will I need after treatment ends?

Learn more about SurvivorNet's rigorous medical review process.

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