About 32,000 women in the United Kingdom may unknowingly carry a faulty gene that ups their risk for ovarian cancer by threefold.
This is a warning from the authors of a new study pertaining to an inherited fault in the BRIP1 gene in the affected women. Around 18 women out of 1,000 develop ovarian cancer, but the risk climbs to about 58 women out of every 1,000 given the BRIP1 gene fault.
When there are faults in the gene, the cell cannot perform proper DNA repair, leading up to a buildup of genetic damage and eventually, cancer.
The researchers – led by Cancer Research UK scientists coming from University of Cambridge, UCL, and Imperial College London – analyzed the genes of over 8,000 white European females, including 3,250 diagnosed with ovarian cancer.
Their findings also showed that women carrying the BRIP1 gene mutation tended to be diagnosed with an aggressive cancer, at an older age and a later stage.
Cancer epidemiology professor and study author Paul Pharoah said that their research is a crucial element behind studying ovarian cancer.
“[W]e hope that our work could eventually form the basis of a genetic test to identify women at greatest risk,” he said in a press release, adding that this type of cancer is typically diagnosed at a late stage and therefore accompanied with lower survival chances.
Every year in the UK alone, 7,100 women are diagnosed with ovarian cancer and an estimated 4,200 will die from the dreaded disease.
Nell Barrie, senior science information manager of Cancer Research UK, highlighted the importance of probing inherited gene mutations in cancer research.
“We urgently need ways to detect ovarian cancer early, as the cancer is often diagnosed when it’s too late for effective treatment because the cancer has already spread,” he warned.
Previous studied have identified that BRCA gene mutations put women at risk of breast and ovarian cancers. Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie chose to undergo double mastectomy and hysterectomy procedures after finding out that she had the mutation.
The study results are published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
Photo: Bradley Gordon | Flickr
