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A major international study published online in Nature reveals Cancer Research UK scientists have isolated five regions of the genome containing genes which can increase a woman’s risk of developing breast cancer.

Reports from several teams around the world identified changes in four other genes that raise the risk of breast cancer significantly. Several are found in many men and women.

Breast cancer that is caused by inherited genetic faults is thought to account for around five to ten per cent of all cases of the disease. However, the genes identified so far only account for a quarter of cases of inherited breast cancer. And, since these genes confer such a small increase in breast cancer risk, they are not appropriate for genetic testing at this point.

Study author Professor Douglas Easton, director of Cancer Research UK’s Genetic Epidemiology Unit in Cambridge, said:

We still don’t know which genes cause 75 per cent of inherited breast cancer cases. This study pinpoints regions containing genes that are responsible for another four per cent. Now we know these search methods are effective, we think that many more breast cancer genes can be found. These methods are also being applied by Cancer Research UK to find genes for a whole range of other cancers, including prostate, bowel and lung cancer.

The approach used to find the four new genes departed from older methods in that it allowed scientists to “Google” the genome, zeroing in on genes that appeared most in women with breast cancer.

Other researchers report that a genetic mutation that raises the risk of breast cancer is found in up to 60 percent of U.S. women, making it the first truly common breast cancer susceptibility gene.

Debu Tripathy, clinical professor of internal medicine at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center said: “Looking at many risky genes may be better able to predict one’s chance of getting breast cancer than looking at any single index alone.”

Summary

• Up to 60 percent of U.S. women carry gene mutation that raises breast cancer risk
• 4 common mutations in gene FGFR2 linked to post-menopausal breast cancer
• Called most important genes associated with breast cancer since BRCA1, BRCA2
• Researchers say it’s too soon yet to screen for these mutations

References:
Scientists ‘home In’ On New Breast Cancer Genes In Groundbreaking Study, UK
Researchers Find Breast Cancer Genes
Scientists Find Four New Breast Cancer Genes