BRCA2 Associated With Risk of Lung Cancer Among Smokers

BRCA2

The gene is known to increase risk for breast and ovarian cancers.

Genetic bad actor has been implicated in yet another cancer.

BRCA2

Now, as a new genomic study shows, a rare variant of the gene is associated with increased risk for squamous cell lung cancer, particularly among cigarette smokers.

"This variant confers one the strongest associations found to date for cancer among those identified by genome-wide association studies and identifies a subset of people who are particularly susceptible to harm associated with smoking," said Christopher Amos, PhD, director of the Center for Genomic Medicine at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, New Hampshire.

Nature Genetics.

Dr. Amos is senior author of a meta-analysis combining data from 4 genome-wide association studies (GWAS) involving more than 11,000 people with lung cancer. The results were published online June 1 in

Read the report here: http://bit.ly/1l3vktn

Source: Medscape