A third of the black women who get breast cancer are under 50 years old and 20-30% of the breast cancers are triple-negative (which is an aggressive and deadly cancer with a high recurrence and metastasis, including brain metastasis and when it reoccurs it’s usually fatal since it doesn’t respond to treatment):

Studies estimate that 20 to 30 percent of breast cancers in African-American women are triple-negative breast cancers. This means the cancers lack estrogen and progesterone receptors and won’t respond to drugs that work by preventing the hormones from reaching the cancer cells. Triple-negative cancers also are HER-2 negative, another hormone, and therefore don’t respond to any of the treatments known to block the cancer’s growth.”The breast cancer is more aggressive,” says Sheppard, “The tumors are harder to treat. They’re larger.”

Here’s the audio of the report from NPR:I think it’s clear that there is probably a genetic component to the triple negative cancer among black women. Those with the BRCA1 mutation (while not limited to Ashkenazi Jews, over 2% of the Ashkenazi Jewish population have the mutant gene) who get breast cancer are more likely to get triple negative breast cancer. I hope they identify the link soon but I don’t hold out much hope that it will do them much good. They’ve known about BRCA1 and 2 for 14 years and they still haven’t been able to stop those who have it from getting cancer (though, they’ve made some progress). Their only option is surgery to remove currently healthy organs to cut down their risk (double mastectomy, tubal ligation, hysterectomy) and with a 44% chance of getting ovarian cancer and a 87% chance of getting breast cancer, it’s worth it.