A large study has identified 12 genes associated with breast cancer in women of African descent that may someday help better predict the risk of the disease and highlight potential risk differences compared to women of European descent. Previous studies aimed at identifying genetic mutations linked to breast cancer primarily focused on women of European descent. This study extracted new findings from over 40,000 African women in the United States, Africa, and Barbados, among them 18,034 diagnosed with breast cancer. The researchers wrote in the journal "Nature Genetics," where the study results were published yesterday, that some mutations identified had not previously been associated with the disease, or had not been strongly linked as in this new analysis, suggesting that genetic risk factors "may differ between females of African and European descent."
The researchers noted that one mutation they recently identified was particularly strongly associated with the disease, which had been "rarely observed" in the field of cancer genetics. The report also mentioned that some other genes known to increase breast cancer risk in white women were not associated with the disease in this study. The American Cancer Society indicates that Black women in the United States experience higher breast cancer incidence rates before the age of 50, a greater incidence of types that are harder to treat, and a mortality rate from the disease that is 42% higher than that of white women.
Six of the genetic mutations were linked to an increased risk of what's known as triple-negative breast cancer, the most aggressive form of the disease. Previous research has shown that Black women have an increased risk of developing this type of breast cancer, nearly three times that of white women. The study found that women who carry all six genes are 4.2 times more likely to be diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer compared to those who have none or only one of these genes.
The study's lead author Dr. Wei Cheng from the Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville stated that the benefits of these new variants need further evaluation before routine testing becomes available. The American Cancer Society mentions that many genetic mutations previously identified as risk factors for breast cancer in white women are also strongly associated with the disease risk in Black women, recommending genetic testing for all patients regardless of race.
