Ashkenazim Not Alone: Other Ethnic Groups Have Breast Cancer Gene Mutations, Too

Extract

It was big news when scientists announced a little more than a year ago that they had found a unique mutation in the BRCA1 breast cancer gene among Ashkenazi Jews. This was the first time anyone had identified a common genetic mutation for breast cancer among members of a specific ethnic group.

But researchers around the world have begun finding that other ethnic groups have similarly unique mutations.

In Norway, researchers have found two distinct BRCA1 mutations: one common in the eastern part of the country and one in the west. In Iceland, scientists have identified a common BRCA2 mutation. Similarly, the Japanese have their own common BRCA1 mutation, as do the Swedes, the Italians in Tuscany, and a group of AfricanAmericans in South Florida.

Inexpensive Tests

Scientists had hoped the discovery in Ashkenazi Jews (those of Eastern or Central European descent) would help open some doors: to the development of inexpensive tests to check women from this ethnic group for an inherited susceptibility to breast cancer, and to the launch of population-based studies to further understand how BRCA1 mutations cause breast cancer.