
Over the last decade, genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have begun to identify common inherited genetic differences, or variants, that influence disease risk. Now, researchers with the NCI-supported GAME-ON initiative and OncoArray Network are on their way to completing the latest round of cutting-edge studies of inherited risk factors.
These researchers have recently published studies identifying dozens of new genetic variants associated with the risk for developing cancer.
A recent study published in Nature Genetics, for example, found 10 new variants associated with lung cancer, and studies published in Nature and Nature Genetics found 72 new variants associated with breast cancer.
In the case of breast cancer, 10 of the risk variants are associated specifically with the risk of developing estrogen receptor-negative disease, which tends to have a poor prognosis and for which few genetic influences were previously known.
Source: NCI







