New breast cancer genes found in women of African ancestry, may improve risk assessment

Twelve breast cancer genes identified in women of African ancestry in a large study published on Monday may one day help better predict their risk for the disease and highlights potential risk differences from women of European descent.

Twelve breast cancer genes identified in women of African ancestry in a large study published on Monday may one day help better predict their risk for the disease and highlights potential risk differences from women of European descent.

Studies to identify genetic mutations linked with breast cancer have previously mainly focused on women of European ancestry.

The new findings are drawn from more than 40,000 women of African ancestry in the United States, Africa and Barbados, including 18,034 with breast cancer.

Some of the mutations identified had not previously been linked with the disease, or were not as strongly linked as in this new analysis, indicating that genetic risk factors "may differ between females of African and European ancestry," the researchers wrote in Nature Genetics.

One newly identified mutation in particular was linked with the disease with a strength "rarely observed" in the field of cancer genetics, the researchers said.

Certain other genes known to increase breast cancer risk in white women were not associated with the disease in this study, the report also noted.

Black women in the United States have higher rates of breast cancer before age 50, a higher incidence of harder-to-treat breast cancers, and a 42% higher breast cancer death rate than white women, according to the American Cancer Society.