At last

RESEARCHERS in theus areexcited abouta
recent breakthrough which links the
BRCA-1 gene to most cases of breast
cancer. The finding provides clin-
ching evidence that establishes a connection between abnormalities in the
BRCA- I and the occurence of breast
cancer.

just last year the scenario was quite
different because scientists till then were
only sure of the fact that women who
inherited a mutated form of the gene
had about 90 per cent chance of developing breast cancer and about 60 per
cent chance of developing ovarian cancer. But women with a family history of
breast cancer constitute just 5 per cent
of all women with the disease, so the
finding did not create major ripples.

Now Wen-Hwa Lee and his team at
the University of Texas in San Antonio
report abnormalities in the BRCA-1 gene
even in women with breast cancer with
no family history of the disease.