New DNA test can diagnose breast cancer risk

Washington DC: DNA analysis of normal breast tissue can help doctors discover if a woman in cause presents a risk of developing breast cancer a new study suggests.

The research, funded by The Eve Appeal and the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme, shows clear evidence that DNA changes are already present in the healthy tissue from women with breast cancer.

The research, undertaken by the Department of Women's Cancer at UCL and led by Professors Martin Widschwendter and Andrew Teschendorff, aims to decode how the most common women's breast cancer develops.

Widschwendter said that these new findings are important in supporting further research into women's cancer development and prevention. The researchers are working hard to understand the risk factors associated with epigenetic changes in normal breast tissue and how these pre dispose a woman to cancer.

The application of these altered epigenetic signatures holds the key developing new interventions that could 'switch off' this epigenetic defect and hold the key to preventing cancer development, added Widschwendter.