Study: Breast cancer genes not so deadly

Boston -- Breast cancer patients genetically predisposed to have the disease have the same chance of survival as other patients, a new study said.

The BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene mutations have been shown to increase the odds that a person will develop breast cancer. But among women who developed breast cancer, 48 percent of women with BRCA1 and 49 percent of women with BRCA2 were alive10 years later, compared to 51 percent of women without the genes, a study of 1,545 breast-cancer patients by Israeli and Canadian researchers found.

The study, which appears in the New England Journal of Medicine, offers comfort to women who have the genetic predisposition, The Wall Street journal said.

The results contradict earlier small studies that found breast cancer patients with the genes have a worse prognosis.

Copyright 2007 by United Press International.