British scientists have found 15 new genetic variations linked to breast cancer, it was announced last night.
The discoveries mean that as many as 90 breast cancer variations have been found.
They mean that scientists are now building genetic profiles of women’s risk of breast cancer.
They say that 5% of women carry enough known genetic variations to double their risk of developing breast cancer – meaning that 25% of these women will contract the disease.
About 0.7% of women carry enough of the genetic variations – single nucleotide polymorphisms – to give them a trebled risk of developing the disease.
The latest findings, reported in Nature Genetics, come from an analysis of more than 120,000 women of European ancestry.
Researcher Professor Doug Easton, of Cambridge University, UK, said: “Our study is another step towards untangling the breast cancer puzzle.
"As well as giving us more information about how and why a higher breast cancer risk can be inherited, the genetic markers we found can help us to target screening and cancer prevention measures at those women who need them the most.
“The next bit of solving the puzzle involves research to understand more about how genetic variations work to increase a woman’s risk. And we’re sure there are more of these variations still to be discovered.”
Nell Barrie, of Cancer Research UK, which backed the research, said: "This latest study adds more detail to our genetic map of breast cancer risk and could help to develop new ways to identify women most at risk so we can spot breast cancer earlier in the future.”
Kryiaki Michailidou et al. Genome-wide association analysis of more than 120,000 individuals identifies 15 new susceptibility loci for breast cancer. Nature Genetics 10 March 2015
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