Another Gene Founds That Doubles Breast Cancer Risk

Researchers have identified yet another gene which increases a woman's risk of developing breast cancer.

An international study of 20,000 women found that i nheriting the wrong version of a gene called CHEK2 doubles a woman's risk of developing breast cancer, according to British researchers.

Researchers, reporting in the American Journal of Human Genetics, said the findings bring a comprehensive genetic test of breast cancer risk a step closer.

Women can already be tested to see if they have inherited these genes.

CHEK2 is the first "low risk" gene to have been definitely established as a risk factor.

In this study, an international team of researchers looked at the CHEK2 genes of 10,860 breast cancer patients and 9,065 healthy women in the United Kingdom, Australia, Finland, Germany and the Netherlands.

Their analysis confirmed that the faulty version of the gene was found in 201 women with breast cancer and 64 healthy women. From these figures, the researchers suggest having the faulty variant more than doubles a woman's risk of developing breast cancer, whether or not there is a history of the disease in the family.

The risk also appeared to be greater for women diagnosed at a younger age.

"Women with a strong family history of breast cancer can already receive genetic tests for the BRCA genes. The next step will be to evaluate whether testing for CHEK2 is useful in the clinic. At the moment it is not clear in what contexts CHEK2 testing would be appropriate," said Dr. Doug Easton, lead researcher..

"As we identify more genes that impact on hereditary breast cancer, we move closer to a comprehensive genetic test to accurately assess the risk of inheriting the disease," Easton said.

Source: American Journal of Human Genetics