According to a new research, a protein tests spots risk of developing breast and ovarian cancer in women. Not all women have mutations in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes for breast and ovarian cancer but still have a strong family history.
Tanja Pejovic, an associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the Oregon Health & Science University School of Medicine, said “We knew that there must have been something else that we could track genetically”
In this study which appeared in the Sept. 15 issue of Cancer Research, ovarian tissues of 22 women were examined by the researchers from the Oregon Health & Science University Cancer Institute. They found that those who had a family history of ovarian cancer but no BRCA mutations had a low level of a protein known as FANCD2, which normally protects DNA and helps repair broken chromosomes. In women with low levels of FANCD2, cells from the ovary were unable to be repaired, putting them at risk of developing cancer-causing mutations.
Tanja Pejovic believes these findings may lead a cancer screening method that uses minimally invasive surgery to remove a few epithelial cells from the ovary for testing. During tests, doctors would look for signs of chromosomal breakage.
“Basically we have discovered that by testing ovarian cells for chromosome breakage, we may be able to identify many more women at risk for ovarian and breast cancer than by using BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation testing. Once this method is fully developed, we will be able to tell a young woman who has a family history of ovarian or breast cancer, but who wants to have children, whether she is at risk or not, without removing her ovary.” says Pejovic.
