Scientists are close to discovering the key to breast cancer
AAP
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AUSTRALIAN scientists have helped to uncover four new genes involved in breast cancer and believe they hold the magic key to exposing all others behind the deadly disease.
The breakthrough is being heralded as the most significant in the field of breast cancer genetics for more than a decade.
"This is huge, absolutely huge, because now we know how to find them all," said Queensland researcher Georgia Chenevix-Trench, who was involved in the landmark international study of more than 40,000 women.
In research released yesterday, the collaborators revealed four genes that slightly increase a woman's chance of developing breast cancer. Everyone carries these genes but those who carry specific abnormal variants will have a 10 to 30 per cent increased risk of disease.
The find sharply boosts the number of known low-risk genes to five, after the group publicised the discovery of another gene, Caspase 8, earlier this year.
Although the latest developments are promising, scientists say there is no point screening women for these dangerous variants until 30 or 40 more had been uncovered. A woman would need to carry multiple bad variants to really increase their cancer risk, said Dr Chenevix-Trench, of the Queensland Institute of Medical Research.
Dr Chevenix-Trench said the most exciting aspect of the research, published in the international journal Nature, was that researchers now understood how to find these genes.
AAP
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