Genetic link seen in breast cancer

SAN JOSE, Calif., Dec. 25 (UPI) -- A genetic mutation appears to link Hispanic, young African-American and Ashkenazi Jewish women who have breast cancer, a new study by U.S. researchers shows.

The mutation of the BRCA1 gene had been known to occur among Ashkenazi Jews but researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine and the Northern California Cancer Center found it among Hispanic and young African-American women, as well, the San Jose Mercury News reported Tuesday.

"The message is that these minority breast cancer patients may need screening in ways that we hadn't appreciated before," said study author Alice Whittemore of Stanford.

The results, based on 3,181 California cancer cases, are to be published in Wednesday's issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Ashkenazi Jewish women with breast cancer had the highest rate of the BRCA1 mutation at 8.3 percent, followed by Hispanic women at 3.5 percent. While African-American women of all ages had a 1.3 percent rate, 16.7 percent of those under age 35 had the mutation. Non-Hispanic whites with breast cancer showed a 2.2 percent rate.

Those with the mutation have a roughly 65 percent risk of developing breast cancer and 39 percent risk of ovarian cancer.