NEW YORK, March 5 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists have found a new genetic marker for breast cancer that identifies women at a much higher risk of developing the disease.
The Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and the National Cancer Institute study found women with this DNA variation have a 1.4 times greater risk of developing breast cancer compared to those without the variation.
"These results are exciting because they point us to new molecular pathways that may be associated with breast cancer," study senior author Dr. Kenneth Offit said in a statement.
The study involved 249 families with multiple cases of breast cancer and no mutations of the BRCA genes -- variations in a gene implicated in breast, ovarian and prostate cancers. The researchers found a new gene locus -- a specific place on a chromosome where a gene is located -- associated with breast cancer risk on chromosome 6.
"This newly identified genetic marker will not have any immediate clinical implications or impact on current screening guidelines for familial breast cancer," Offit said. "A test for these markers is not available to the general public and these tests should be performed only as part of research studies."
The findings are published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
