Hope for better cancer treatment

The genetic code of the most common type of hereditary breast cancer has been mapped for the first time, raising hopes for better diagnosis and treatment for the killer disease, scientists said.

Researchers say they have “fully sequenced” the DNA of two breast cancers caused by a faulty BRCA1 gene, which is responsible for aggressive and highly drug-resistant tumours.

The team from the Breakthrough Breast Cancer Research Centre at the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) say that they hope that their work will lead to more tailored treatment for patients.

Dr Rachael Natrajan, one of the scientists involved in the study, said: “It is exciting to find new genes which could be involved in causing and driving breast cancer. Now these have been identified we have to do more work to find out the role that they play. Ultimately, this knowledge could help us develop new treatments.”