A British-led research project has found 13 new genetic variants linked with risk of developing glioma, it was announced last night.
The variants affect nerve cell division, DNA repair, cell cycle control, protein production and inflammation, according to researchers at the Institute of Cancer Research, London, UK.
The findings, reported in Nature Genetics, involved a study of more than 12,000 people with glioma and 18,000 without the disease. These came from two new genome-wide studies and findings from six previous studies.
The research also provided more information about the effect of DNA errors on other genes associated with cancer.
Among the new findings are genes linked specifically to glioblastoma and non-glioblastoma sub-types of glioma.
One DNA change in the gene HEARTR3 increased the risk of glioblastoma by 18%.
Researcher Professor Richard Houlston said: "We’ve uncovered a treasure trove of new information about the genetic causes of glioma brain cancers.
"The changes in the way we think about glioma could be quite fundamental. So for example, what we thought of as two related sub-types of the disease turn out to have quite different genetic causes which may require different approaches to treatment."
Institute chief executive Professor Paul Workman said: "The genetics of glioma had been poorly understood, but this huge and excellent new study at a stroke gives us the same kind of knowledge of the disease as we have with other, more intensely studied cancers.
"It’s a significant step forward which I believe will have clear implications for our ability to identify people at high risk, and to treat them."
* A second study in the same journal has reported 12 new genetic variants linked to the most common type of ovarian cancer.
The findings came from a study of DNA from nearly 100,000 people including 17,000 women with ovarian cancer, in the UK, the USA and Australia.
Nature Genetics 27 March 2017
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