Three genes causing breast cancer identified

Technology

Three genes causing breast cancer identified

Close

The newly identified genes will help to open up new avenues for biological and clinical research.

24 January,2012 12:54 pm

Researchers have identified three new genomic regions they believe are linked with breast cancer that may help explain why some women develop the disease.Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women, with about 1 million new cases annually worldwide and more than 400,000 deaths a year.Scientists conducting genome-wide association studies -- research that looks at the association between genetic factors and disease to pinpoint possible causes -- had already identified 22 breast cancer susceptibility loci. Locus is the physical location of a gene or DNA sequence on a chromosome.However, the three new susceptibility loci might explain only about 0.7 percent of the familial risks of breast cancer, bringing the total contribution to about 9 percent, the researchers said.Michael Melner, scientific program director for the American Cancer Society, said this current research adds some important new clues to existing evidence, but he agreed that the number of cases likely associated with these three variants is probably low.