New gene test could bare breast cancer risk
Source: Agencies |
August 31, 2011, Wednesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
Screening for mutations in a gene known as CHEK2 may help determine a woman's odds of breast cancer if the disease runs in her family, according to a Polish study.
Cezary Cybulski of the Pomeranian Medical University in Szczecin and his team said that a woman who carries a CHEK2 mutation would have a 34 percent risk of developing breast cancer if her mother or sister had the disease.
American experts, however, cautioned that Polish women might be different than those in the United States and said that the test isn't quite ready for widespread use yet.
Women with a family history of breast or ovarian cancer are already encouraged to get screened for mutations in the BRCA 1 and 2 genes that warn of a heightened tumor risk.
"CHEK2 mutation screening detects a clinically meaningful risk of breast cancer and should be considered in all women with a family history of breast cancer," Cybulski wrote in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
Polish researchers tested the genes of nearly 7,500 women with breast cancer who didn't have BRCA 1 mutations and found that 3 percent had a certain type of mutation in the CHEK2 gene. But fewer than one percent without breast cancer harbored such mutations. Although CHEK2 has been tied to cancer before, it wasn't clear what role cancer in the family played.
Cezary Cybulski of the Pomeranian Medical University in Szczecin and his team said that a woman who carries a CHEK2 mutation would have a 34 percent risk of developing breast cancer if her mother or sister had the disease.
American experts, however, cautioned that Polish women might be different than those in the United States and said that the test isn't quite ready for widespread use yet.
Women with a family history of breast or ovarian cancer are already encouraged to get screened for mutations in the BRCA 1 and 2 genes that warn of a heightened tumor risk.
"CHEK2 mutation screening detects a clinically meaningful risk of breast cancer and should be considered in all women with a family history of breast cancer," Cybulski wrote in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
Polish researchers tested the genes of nearly 7,500 women with breast cancer who didn't have BRCA 1 mutations and found that 3 percent had a certain type of mutation in the CHEK2 gene. But fewer than one percent without breast cancer harbored such mutations. Although CHEK2 has been tied to cancer before, it wasn't clear what role cancer in the family played.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
