Program Predicts Risk of Ovarian and Breast Cancer

An online risk predictor that can determine which women have a high risk of breast or ovarian cancer and need to undergo further testing has been developed by Cancer Research UK researchers.

The BOADICEA program calculates a woman’s risk on the basis of her family history. It was developed using genetic data from 1,484 women with breast cancer and 156 families with multiple breast and ovarian cancer cases.

The researchers claim it is more accurate than previous risk predictors because it takes into account other genetic mutations in addition to the well-known BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene mutations. This includes genes for which there are no current biological tests available.

Professor Doug Easton, of the Cancer Research UK genetic epidemiology unit in Cambridge, said this is necessary as BRCA1 and BRCA2 together account for less than a fifth of breast cancer clusters in families.

The researchers plan to pilot the programme, which will initially only be available for geneticists and oncologists, in several thousand women visiting UK cancer genetic clinics.

Copyright Haymarket Business Publications Ltd. Oct 22, 2004