Gene Study Adds to investigate of Breast Cancer Risk

Findings may help scientists develop way to predict creature risk in BRCA1 mutation carriers. Newly recognized gene mutations may affect breast cancer risk in some women, an international team of researchers has found.
It is already known that BRCA1 gene mutations significantly increase the risk of breast and ovarian cancer. This new study looked at whether other gene mutations might adjust or alter that breast cancer risk.
The Mayo Clinic-led team first studied genetic mutations in 1,193 women with BRCA1 mutations who had enveloping breast cancer and 1,190 women with BRCA1 mutations who didn't have breast cancer. They then used those results to study a larger sample of women in each group.
The investigators finally identified five gene mutations in the region of chromosome 19p13 that modify breast cancer risk in women with BRCA1 gene mutations. But these mutations do not distress ovarian cancer risk in these women, the researchers noted.
The findings, available in the current issue of the journal Nature Genetics, may help improve understanding of the causes of breast cancer and "should be useful in helping determine individual risk for breast cancer in BRCA1 carriers," senior author Fergus Couch said in a news release from the Mayo Clinic.

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2 Genes Have probable Link to Deadly Ovarian Cancer

Scientists say result s may lead to new therapies for ovarian clear cell carcinoma.
Mutations in two genes may be linked with one of the most deadly types of ovarian cancer, U.S. researchers have found.
In the study, researchers at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center looked for mutations in 18,000 protein-encoding genes in ovarian clear cell tumors from eight patients. The investigators starts 268 mutations in 253 genes, with an average of 20 mutations per tumor.
Further inquiry revealed that two genes  ARID1A and PPP2R1A were more commonly mutated than other genes. ARID1A mutations were present in 57 percent of tumors while PPP2R1A mutations were present in 7.1 percent of tumors, according to the report available in the Sept. 8 online edition of Science Express.
ARID1A is a gene whose manufactured goods normally suppresses tumors. PPP2R1A is a gene that, when altered, helps turn normal cells into tumor cells. The genes had not previously been linked to ovarian cancer, the researchers explained in a rumor release from the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center.
The findings "may provide opportunities for developing new biomarkers and therapies that target those genes," Nickolas Papadopoulos, associate professor of oncology and director of Translational Genetics at the Ludwig Center for Cancer Genetics & Therapeutics at the cancer center, said in the news release.
Ovarian clear cell carcinoma, which accounts for about 10 percent of cancers that start in cells on the surface of the ovaries, mainly affects women aged 40 to 80 and is opposed to to chemotherapy, according to background information in the news release.