NASHVILLE, Feb. 16 (UPI) -- U.S. cancer researchers say they have identified an area on chromosome 6 that's strongly linked with breast cancer susceptibility in Asian women.
The Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center investigators led by Dr. Wei Zheng said identification of the genetic "locus" might help guide efforts to find the specific genes linked with sporadic -- or non-inherited -- forms of the disease.
Genetics plays an important role in the disease and some breast cancer susceptibility genes -- such as BRCA1 and BRCA2 -- have been identified, the scientists said. Mutations in those genes increase risk of inherited forms of breast cancers.
"But the genetic factors identified so far explain only a small percent of all the cases in the general population," said Zheng, a Vanderbilt University professor and director of the Vanderbilt Epidemiology Center. He said the genetic factors responsible for the vast majority of cases are unclear, "so there has been a lot of interest to identify additional genetic factors for breast cancer."
The research that also included Jirong Long, Chun Li, Shawn Levy, Shawn Levy, Sandra Deming, Jonathan Haines and Drs. Wanqing Wen, Qiuyin Cai and Xiao-Ou Shu is reported in the journal Nature Genetics.
