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Genetic make-up puts Irish women at cancer risk A leading
cancer specialist has said that specific elements in the genetic profile
of Irish women can predispose them to certain breast cancers.
Director of the National Breast Cancer Research Institute Professor Michael
Kerin said researchers at the Galway-based institute have been looking
at the genetic profile of 1,000 Irish women with breast cancer and comparing
it with the genetic profile of a similar number of older Irish women who
never had breast cancer.
Although the study is yet to be completed, early indications are that
its findings would be significant.
Professor Kerin said: “In our own assessment of the situation, we
have found individual changes in the Irish population that are related
to breast cancer.
“What we’ve done is we’ve targeted individual areas
that are likely to prove responsive and we have identified specific issues
in the Irish population in relation to that which corroborate some other
work that’s being done internationally.
“But also at the moment we are targeting areas of novel change that
I think will show differences in the Irish population relative to other
international populations.”
Professor Kerin’s comments come just days after scientists involved
in an international study reported having found four more genes that can,
if faulty, predict if a woman is at increased risk of developing breast
cancer.
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