Breakthrough in cancer research
Scientists have discovered a mutation that can be related to breast cancer risk.
A group of researchers led by a Canadian scientist has identified an unusual gene mutation that may be linked to the risk of breast cancer. The team is led by Dr. Mohammad Reza Akbari, study's principal investigator and a scientist at Women's College Hospital in Toronto.
"That can help to identify those families, preventing cancer among them or treating their breast cancer more efficiently," Dr. Mohammad Reza Akbari said in an interview about the recent discovery.
A team of specialists conducted a study on 510 women in Poland with familial breast cancer and identified the mutation in two women. The mutation the scientists discovered got a name ATRIP.
The researchers, including Jean-Yves Masson of Université Laval in Quebec City and Cezary Cybulski of Pomeranian Medical University in Poland, next looked at the DNA data of 16,000 breast cancer patients in Poland and 15,000 in the United Kingdom.
They found the mutation in 42 women with breast cancer in Poland and 13 in the UK. This is enough to establish a link between susceptibility to breast cancer and this gene mutation.
While it is statistically noticeable that the ATRIP mutation is less common than other mutations for which today screenings and other studies are done, Dr. Akbari said the findings suggest that people with this mutation are two to three times more likely to develop breast cancer than the general population.
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