A gene that doubles Breast Cancer risk identified

A gene that doubles the risk of breast cancer in women who carry it, has been discovered by the scientists at the Institute of Cancer Research in Sutton, Britain, the media reports said on Monday.

In their research, unleashed in this week’s journal Nature Genetics, the scientists said that they have identified a gene called BRIP1, faults in which augment the risk of developing breast cancer in women with a family history of the disease. Just like some of the other known breast cancer genes, the researchers told that BRIP1 helps to repair damaged DNA.

In their study, the medical experts said that women with a faulty version of the BRIP1 gene are twice as likely to develop breast cancer. They studied the gene in 1,212 women with breast cancer, and compared the results with 2,081 healthy women.

The participating subjects with breast cancer had a family history of the disease, but did not carry the most familiar breast cancer genes, BRCA1 and BRCA2, which cause a quarter of hereditary cases. Besides increased risk of breast cancer, BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations are associated with increased risk of variety of other cancer including ovarian cancer.

After observing the data, the researchers found that women carrying the faulty BRIP1 gene had an increased risk, from one in twelve to one in six by the time a woman is 70 years old. The experts discovered nine of the breast cancer patients had mutations in the BRIP1 gene while only two of 2,081 healthy women had it.

Telling about their discovery Nazneen Rahman, one of the researchers, said they were looking for genes that interact with the common breast cancer genes and discovered BRIP1, also known as BACH1.

"BRIP1 is the latest gene we have found and leads to a small increased risk of breast cancer," She said. Like BRCA2 breast cancer gene, certain mutations in BRIP1 may also cause a blood disease called Fanconi anaemia, reported Dr. Rahman and colleagues.

"Breast cancer is approximately twice as common in sisters and mothers of affected individuals as in the general population," the researchers wrote.

Mutations in BRCA1 gene are associated with 50% to 85% life-time risk of developing breast cancer as seen in various studies. People carrying BRCA1 gene mutation often develop breast cancer at a younger age compared to the general population.

The risk of development of breast cancer in women carrying BRCA2 mutations are similar to the risk of BRCA1 carriers, however the risk of development of ovarian cancer is lower in BRCA2 mutation carriers compared to BRCA1 mutation carriers.

"Together, these susceptibility genes are estimated to account for up to 25 percent of the familial risk of breast cancer," the researchers wrote.

Alone in UK, nearly 30,000 women, or about 0.1% of the total, carry the faulty version of the BRIP1 gene, which is believed to be responsible for about 100 cases of breast cancer every year.

According to World Health Organization (WHO) data, breast cancer engulfs 500,000 lives a year globally.