Breast Cancer "Genetic Find”

Scientists claim to have a near-perfect picture of genetic events that cause breast cancer.

16:23 03 May 2016

An international team of scientists that conducted the largest study on breast cancer, has claimed to have a near-perfect picture of genetic events that cause the disease, a discovery that can lead to the development of preventive measures and new ways to treat the condition.

 

Published in Nature, it has been described as a “milestone” moment while Cancer Research UK said that the findings could pave the way for new drugs for treating cancer.

 

To understand what causes the condition, the scientists looked at all 3 billion letters of people’s genetic code in 560 cancers. They found 93 sets of genes, that if mutated, can cause the development of tumours.

 

Prof Sir Mike Stratton, the director of the Sanger Institute in Cambridge, which led the study, said: "There are about 20,000 genes in the human genome. It turns out, now we have this complete view of breast cancer - there are 93 of those [genes] that if mutated will convert a normal breast cell into a breast cancer cell. That is an important piece of information.

 

"We hand that list over to the universities, the pharmaceuticals, the biotech companies to start developing new drugs because those mutated genes and their proteins are targets for new therapeutics.

 

"There are now many drugs that have been developed over the last 15 years against such targets which we know work."