DURHAM, N.C. -- A second breast cancer susceptibility gene has been located,
researchers at the Duke University Comprehensive Cancer Center and the United
Kingdom's Institute for Cancer Research reported Wednesday.
The gene, named BRCA2, likely accounts for the majority of inherited breast
cancers not caused by BRCA1, the breast cancer susceptibility gene identified
in 1994 by a team led by Mark Skolnick of the University of Utah and Myriad
Genetics Inc., according to the researchers.
The Duke and British researchers reported their findings in the Dec. 21
issue of the journal Nature. The principal investigators are P. Andrew
Futreal of Duke University Medical Center and Michael Stratton of the Institute
for Cancer Research in Surrey, England, whose laboratories collaborated
on the discovery.
"This finding means that we really are narrowing in on this dreaded
cancer," said Barbara Rimer, chairman of the National Cancer Advisory
Board and professor of community and family medicine at Duke. "But
it makes it more important than ever that we learn how to counsel women
about their options and how to develop clinics to provide support services
for the women who may carry breast cancer genes."
As with BRCA1, the researchers said they expect that women who inherit
BRCA2 may have up to an 85 percent chance of developing breast cancer.
Members of families with the BRCA2 gene also seem to be at greater risk
for several other cancers, including male breast cancer, prostate cancer
and ocular melanoma.
Unlike BRCA1, however, inheriting a defective copy of BRCA2 does not appear
to put women at a significantly greater risk of developing ovarian cancer,
although the risk is still higher than the general population, the researchers
said.
A total of 182,000 U.S. women and 29,000 women in the United Kingdom were
expected to develop breast cancer in 1995, according to estimates fro
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Contact: David Rice
rice0014@mc.duke.edu
Duke University
29-Apr-1996