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Gene find sheds light on breast cancer risk
Source: Agencies |
September 21, 2010, Tuesday
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Print Edition
SCIENTISTS have found a region of DNA that can increase or decrease the high chance of breast cancer linked to a particular gene variant - a finding that could help doctors keep a closer eye on women most at risk.
The findings were published in Nature Genetics journal on Sunday along with two other separate studies linking this same region and four others to ovarian cancer.
The breast cancer study centered on women who carry a faulty BRCA1 gene, which significantly raises the risk of developing certain cancers. On average, around 65 percent of women carrying a faulty BRCA1 gene will develop breast cancer, and around 40 percent will develop ovarian cancer, by the age of 70.
The studies found that if a woman with a BRCA1 fault also carries a "risk version" of a DNA region known as 19p13, her breast cancer risk may be even higher still.
"We've found a DNA region that acts like a volume control - to turn up or down the risk of developing breast cancer from faults in the BRCA1 gene," said Antonis Antoniou of Cambridge University, who led the work on the first study.
In a separate study, the same 19p13 region was also shown to increase the risk, to a lesser degree, of ovarian cancer in women who are not carriers of a BRCA1 fault.
"This is important because it suggests that women who carry certain versions of this DNA stretch could benefit from closer monitoring for both breast and ovarian cancers," said Simon Gayther at University College London, who led that study.
A third study by scientists from Europe, the United States, Canada and Australia found four other separate genetic regions also associated with ovarian cancer risk in the general population.
The findings were published in Nature Genetics journal on Sunday along with two other separate studies linking this same region and four others to ovarian cancer.
The breast cancer study centered on women who carry a faulty BRCA1 gene, which significantly raises the risk of developing certain cancers. On average, around 65 percent of women carrying a faulty BRCA1 gene will develop breast cancer, and around 40 percent will develop ovarian cancer, by the age of 70.
The studies found that if a woman with a BRCA1 fault also carries a "risk version" of a DNA region known as 19p13, her breast cancer risk may be even higher still.
"We've found a DNA region that acts like a volume control - to turn up or down the risk of developing breast cancer from faults in the BRCA1 gene," said Antonis Antoniou of Cambridge University, who led the work on the first study.
In a separate study, the same 19p13 region was also shown to increase the risk, to a lesser degree, of ovarian cancer in women who are not carriers of a BRCA1 fault.
"This is important because it suggests that women who carry certain versions of this DNA stretch could benefit from closer monitoring for both breast and ovarian cancers," said Simon Gayther at University College London, who led that study.
A third study by scientists from Europe, the United States, Canada and Australia found four other separate genetic regions also associated with ovarian cancer risk in the general population.
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