Genetic Testing - Who should get tested first?

I am not sure who should be tested first. But, I was tested due to 4 family members having breast cancer. I tested negative. BUT, the counselor told me, once I was tested (cost $3200), it would only cost about $400 for any family member....because the DNA strand had already been identified. So, I would say whoever has insurance that will pay for the initial test should test first.

If  someone has a mutation, their parents, children, brothers and sisters have up to a 50% chance that they have the same mutation. Even if the mother doesn't have it, it can be passed down by male family members as well. Even if the male member doesn't have cancer, he can pass it down at the same 50% rate. So, really the only way you can know, is to be personally tested.

You are correct that the gene is passed from parent to child, and if the parent carries the gene, then each child has a 50/50 chance of inheriting the gene.  So the person who needs to be tested first is your wife's mother, assuming that she is willing to be tested.  It is always recommended that someone with breast cancer be tested first, and preferably, someone from the oldest generation.  The testing is a simple blood test but there are a lot of different BRCA mutations so the lab would do a very thorough analysis of your wife's mother's sample to see if any of the mutations are present.

If it is found that your wife's mother carries a BRCA mutation, then you wife should be tested to see if she inherited it.  Because at that point the specific mutation will have been identified, the analysis of your wife's blood sample can be done much more quickly and inexpensively, because the lab will know exactly what they are looking for - it won't be a needle in a haystack as it would be with your mother-in-law.   

hi, in  my case, they had my mother (who had BC in her 30s) test first. if she tested positive for the gene, I would have tested.  Fortunately, she did not have the BRCA gene.  best wishes to you.