Genetic link found to increased risk of ovarian cancer

UCL scientists are part of a team that has located a region of DNA which - when altered - can increase the risk of ovarian cancer, according to research published today . An international research group involving UCL, the Cancer Research UK Genetic Epidemiology Unit, and the University of Cambridge searched through the genomes of 1,810 women with ovarian cancer and 2,535 women without the disease from across the UK. They analysed 2.5 million variations in DNA base pairs ' the letters which spell out the genetic code - to identify common spelling 'errors' linked to ovarian cancer risk. The scientists identified the genetic 'letters'' called single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) - which when spelt slightly differently increase ovarian cancer risk in some women. This is the first time scientists have found an SNP linked uniquely to risk of ovarian cancer and is the result of eight years of investigations. With the help of the international Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium (OCAC), they then looked at more than 7,000 additional women with ovarian cancer and 10,000 women without disease from around the world to confirm this finding. The region of risk DNA is located on chromosome nine ' there are 23 pairs of each chromosome in humans, one of each pair inherited from each parent.