Pharmacoprevention for hereditary breast and ovarian cancer.

Hereditary breast and ovarian cancer (HBOC) syndrome is an important women's health condition characterized by an increased susceptibility to the development of cancer, in particular breast and ovarian neoplasms, and is caused by an inherited germline genetic mutation in one or both tumor suppressor genes named BRCA1 and BRCA2. This monographic issue provides an update on our knowledge of this syndrome with particular emphasis on the risk reduction strategies through a pharmacopreventive approach.